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DEFENSE  OF  THE  SABBATH, 


IX   REPLY  TO 


WARD  ON  THE  FOURTH  COMMANDMENT, 


BY  GEORGE  CARLOW. 


THIRD    EDITION REVISED. 


NEW-YORK : 

PUBLISHED  BY  PAUL  STILLMAN, 
FOR  THE  AMERICAN  SABBATH  TRACT  SOCIETY 

STEREOTTPED  BY  E.  G.   CHAMPLIN. 

1847. 


JlfTENTS, 


Page. 
The  Author  to  the  Reader,         .....         1 

Advertisement  to  the  Reader, 22 

Defense  of  the  Sabbath,     ....  .        .       25 

Chapter  I. — The  notion  that  the  Sabbath  requires  simply 
one  seventh  part  of  time  to  be  dedicated  to 
the  Lord,  confuted,  .         .         .         .27 

II. — The  Sabbath  instituted  not  for  the  .Tews  only, 

but  for  mankind  at  large,  ...       42 

III. — The  rigorous  and  burdensome  character  of  the 

Sabbath  considered,  .         .         .         .54 

IV. — The  Sabbatli  not  Ceremonial,  .  62 

V. — The  glaring  impiety  apparent  in  those  who  alter 

the  language  of  God's  Law,  .         .  67 

VI. — The  pretence  of  a  divine  institution  for  keeping 

the  first  day  considered,         ...  71 

VII. — Mr.  Ward,  failing  to  prove  his  position  by 
the  Word  of  God,  receives  help  from  other 
som-ces,  or  from  Profane  History,  .      75 

VIII.— The  arts  used  by  the  Papists  to  establish  the 
observance  of  the  first  day  of  the  week  in 
England  and  Scotland,  ...  83 


VI  CONTENTS. 

Paok. 

Chapter  IX. — The  use  of  heathenish  names  considered,       91 

X. — Time  of  commencmg  the  Sabbath,       .         .       95 

XI. — Remarks  upon  the  argument  for  the  observance 
of  the  first  day  from  the  resuirection  of  Christ 
and  his  appearances  to  his  disciples,      .  99 

XII.— Examination  of  Acts  20:  7,  .         .122 

XIII. — The  collection  "  on  the  first  day"  considered,  131 

XIV. — The  argument  for  the  change  from  Christ's  be- 
ing Lord  of  the  Sabbath,  considered,        .     136 

XV. — Argument  from  the  day  of  Pentecost,  spoken 

of  in  Acts  2 :  1,  2,  .         .         .         .139 

XVI. — Examination  of  Mr.  Ward's  interpretation  of 

Rom.  14:  5,  also  of  Gal.  4:  10,  11,  .     142 

XVII. — The  argument  that  the  Sabbath   was   but  a 

shadow,  and  therefore  abolished,  considered,  148 

XVUI. — Examination  of  Revelations  1 :  9,  10,  .     154 


ADVERTISEMENT  BY  THE  TRACT  SOCIETY. 


The  following  work  is  the  production  of  an  old 
author.  It  was  first  published  in  London  in  the 
year  1724,  under  the  title  of  "Truth  Defended,  or 
Observations  on  Mr.  Ward's  Expository  Discourses, 
from  the  eighth,  ninth,  tenth,  and  eleventh  verses 
of  the  twentieth  chapter  of  Exodus,  concerning  the 
Sabbath."  A  copy  of  it  seems  to  have  found  its 
way  to  America,  from  which  an  edition  was  printed 
at  Stonington,  Conn.,  in  1802.  The  present  edition 
is  reprinted  from  the  American  impression.  The 
Committee  charged  with  its  preparation  for  the  press 
have  divided  the  work  into  chapters  with  appro- 
priate  headings.  They  have  also  improved  the 
orthography,  and  corrected  to  some  extent  the 
antiquated  language  of  the  original.  In  a  few 
instances,  they  found  it  necessary  completely  to 
remodel  sentences  in  order  to  make  them  intelligi- 
ble to  the  common  reader.  But  in  no  case,  it  is 
believed,  has  such  an  alteration  been  made  as  to 
convey  any  other  meaning  than  what  the  author 
originally  intended. 


IV  ADVERTISEMENT  BY  THE  TRACT  SOCIETl'. 

Of  the  personal  history  of  George  Carlo \v,  but 
little  is  knovv^n.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Sabbath- 
keeping  Church  which  once  flourished  at  Wood- 
bridge,  Suffolk,  Eng.  Having  visited  London,  prob- 
ably for  purposes  connected  with  the  publication 
of  his  book,  he  was  recommended  to  the  fellowship 
of  the  Church  of  Mill  Yard,  in  Goodman's  Fields. 
Hence  his  name  appears  upon  the  records  of  that 
Church  as  a  Transient  Member.  He  was  evidently 
a  man  of  plain  parts,  not  schooled  in  the  rules  of 
logic,  but  learned  in  the  Scriptures.  From  that 
Fountain  of  true  wisdom,  the  Word  of  God,  he 
had  imbibed  a  spirit  which  gives  a  pungency  and 
heart-searching  character  to  his  writings  not  often 
found  in  books  of  controversy.  The  argumentative 
part  of  the  subject  is  not  perhaps  so  well  managed 
in  this  book  as  in  some  more  modern  publications. 
But  as  the  author  was  well  read  in  the  contro- 
versies concerning  the  Sabbath,  the  historical  in- 
formation which  he  presents  is  very  valuable.  The 
whole  work  is  characterized  by  a  spirit  of  evan- 
gelical piety  and  earnestness  which  must  make  its 
influence  powerful  and  salutary  wherever  read. 
We  commend  it  to  the  diligent  perusal  of  every 
Christian. 

Nkw-York,  Jiuiuavy,  1847. 


THE  AUTHOR  TO  THE  READER. 


My  earnest  desire  to  thee  is,  that  thou  wouldest 
read  what  I  have  here  written  diligently,  and  be 
like  the  noble  Bereans,  who  searched  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  I  doubt  not  but  thou  wilt,  through  the 
blessing  of  the  Lord,  soon  see  that  the  things  I 
have  written  are  true.  Beware  of  uncharitable- 
ness,  in  passing  a  rash  censure  upon  it,  as  many 
are  apt  to  do  before  they  ever  pass  through  the 
particulars  of  a  thing;  but  be  serious  and  diligent 
in  the  things  of  God,  and  let  the  precious  and 
pleasant  paths  of  the  Lord's  holy  commandments 
be  more  to  thee  than  an  impatient  spirit,  than  the 
fear  of  men  which  brings  a  snare,  or  than  custom 
and  worldly  interest,  and  I  shall  be  in  a  great 
measure  out  of  doubt  to  thy  closing  in  with  the 
truths  herein  held  forth. 

1.  That  the  matters  of  Almighty  God,  and  of 
man's  immortal  soul,  are  things  of  the  greatest 
concernment  in  the  world,  is  a  truth  readily  ac- 
knowledged by  all ;  and  yet  there  is  no  one  truth 
more  contradicted  by  the  constant  course  of  most 
men.  And  their  course  in  relation  to  the  Sab- 
bath is  a  convincing  instance  of  this;  for  al- 
though God's  honor  and  man's  welfare  are  very 
much  engaged  therein,  yet  many  in  opinion,  and 
more  in  their  wicked  practices,  do  oppose  the  right 
observation  thereof    as  holy  to   the    Lord. 

God's  concernment  therein  may  many  ways  be 
made  manifest,  for  this  is  one  of  the  tfen  command- 
ments, charged  by  the  Creator  of  heaven  and  earth 
upon  man,  to  remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it 


2  INTRODUCTION. 

holy;  and  the  engrossing  of  this  charge,  God  did 
not  leave  to  any  man,  but  he  wrote  it  with  his  fin- 
ger. Deut.  9:  10.  Also  to  intimate  that  his  in- 
tention was  to  perpetuate  this  wath  the  other  pre- 
cepts of  the  Decalogue  in  the  morality  thereof,  the 
Lord  himself  imprinted  it,  not  upon  paper,  but 
upon  tables  of  stone.  Exodus  31:  IS.  Yea,  when 
the  first  tables  of  stone  were  broken,  God  gave 
express  order  unto  Moses  to  have  other  tables  like 
to  the  former  prepared,  and  wrote  thereon  the 
same  words  the  second  time.  Exodus  34:  1,  4,  28. 
As  the  Lord  delighted  in  the  first,  institution  of 
the  Sabbath,  so  he  accounts  himself  honored  by 
its  sanctification;  yea,  he  taketh  it  as  a  title  of 
honor  to  be  called  the  Lord  of  the  Sabbath,  where- 
as .this  is  his  complaint  and  charge  against  them 
who  are  regardless  of  his  Sabbath,  "  I  am  profaned 
ajnongst  iJiemr     Ezek.  22 :  26. 

Man's  obligations  to  keep  the  Sabbath  would 
neither  be  judged  few  nor  weak,  if  principles 
of  sacred  self-love  might  prevail ;  for  the  Sabbath 
is  given,  not  as  a  task,  but  as  a  privilege,  to  God's 
people,  to  be  a  pledge  of  their  interest  in  God, 
and  a  confirmation  of  their  hope  of  their  further 
sanctification,  as  also  of  their  everlasting  sabbatism 
or  rest  after  their  wearisome  wanderings  in  this 
world,  and  for  the  sweetening  of  this  wilderness 
way  unto  the  heavenly  Canaan.  The  Lord  hath 
provided  for  them  the  Sabbath  for  their  spiritual 
feasting  every  week,  in  which  respect  he  com- 
mandeth  us  to  call  it  and  to  observe  it  as  a  day  of 
delight.  Isaiah  58:  13.  Therefore  should  we 
observe  it  with  holy  tenderness,  as  Solomon  coun- 
seleth  every  one  to  keep  God's  law  as  the  apple 
of  his  eye.     Prov.  7  :  2. 

Upon  the  first  consideration,  we  may  condemn 
the  profaners  of  the  Sabbath  as  guilty  of  sacrilege, 


INTRODUCTION.  3 

for  it  is  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord,  and  the  Lord's 
day.  Isaiah  58:  13.  That  time  is  stolen  from 
God  himself  which  is  spent  otherwise  than  he  al- 
loweth ;  and  how  sad  this  sacrilege  and  theft  are, 
you  may  find  unfolded  in  the  following  treatise. 
And  observe  that  this  sin  against  God  in  Sabbath 
abuse  is  abominable  and  inexcusable,  because  you 
are  charged  only  with  one  day  every  week  to  be 
kept  holy  unto  the  Lord.  I  remember  that  Moses 
maketh  mention  of  this  as  an  act  of  God's  great 
indulgence  towards  men,  that  having  written  the 
ten  commandfnents  he  added  no  more.  Deut. 
5 :  22.  The  ceremonial  laws  that  were  to  be  ab- 
rogated by  Christ,  were  all  wi'itten  by  Moses ;  but 
this  of  the  Sabbath,  with  the  other  nine,  were 
written  by  God  himself — were  put  into  the  ark 
where  no  ceremonial  law  was  put,  to  show  that 
they  should  be  the  perpetual  rules  of  his  church ; 
and  should  not  we  with  obedient  submission  ac- 
knowledge the  same] 

Upon  the  second  consideration,  men  may  with- 
out uncharitableness  be  censured  as  inexcusably 
regardless  of  their  own  souls'  good,  both  in  regard 
of  grace  and  comfort  here  and  hereafter,  who  dis- 
respect the  Sabbath  day,  which  is  the  market  day 
for  their  souls,  as  a  good  man  was  wont  to  call  it. 
The  promises  of  blessings  from  God  belong  to  the 
seventh  day  Sabbath  in  an  especial  manner,  and 
not  to  the  first  day ;  and  it  must  be  allowed  there 
is  reason  to  believe,  that  had  it  always  been  ob- 
served, the  authority  of  God  herein  would  have 
awed  men's  minds  to  have  lived  a  more  holy  life. 
Here  I  might  take  occasion  to  bewail  bitterly  Eng- 
land's woiul  declining,  both  in  matters  of  doc- 
trine and  practice,  concerning  the  Sabbath.  The 
Lord  threateningly  complaineth  of  the  priests  in 
former  times,  because  they  hid  their  eyes  from  the 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

Sabbath.  Ezek.  22:  26.  The  meaning  of  this 
complaint  is  judged  to  be,  either  more  generally 
their  disregard  thereof,  or  more  particularly  their 
not  taking  notice  when,  and  by  whom,  and  how 
profaned,  that  they  might  by  reproof  seek  redress. 
This  I  mention  that  ministers  may  mind  their  duties 
in  this  regard  more ;  for,  alas !  how  apt  are  men, 
even  ministers  among  others,  to  swim  down  the 
tide  with  them  that  bear  rule,  as  apj^ears  in  the 
pulpit  and  the  press,  and  to  decry  the  morality  and 
exact  observation  of  the  Lord's  Sabbath  enjoined 
in  the  fourth  commandment. 

God  from  the  bes^inninor  did  ordain  the  seventh 
day  for  religious  duties  a  holy  Sabbath,  as  first 
sanctified;  and  afterwards  he  retained  the  conse- 
cration of  it  to  Adam  in  Paradise,  and  the  promul- 
gation of  it  to  Moses  on  the  Mount.  God  did  es- 
tablish the  seventh  day  for  the  Sabbath,  (Gen.  2 : 
2,  3,)  '^  A?id  God  blessed  the  seventh  day  and  sanctified 
ity  And  as  God  appointed  Adam  his  work  on  the 
six  days  to  dress  the  ground,  so  God  provided  him 
a  Sabbath  the  seventh  day  for  holy  rest.  The 
ground,  indeed,  did  not  then  as  now  need  tillage, 
but  the  first  man  must  be  an  example  or  pattern  to 
posterity;  neither  did  Adam  need  rest  by  reason 
of  any  bodily  weariness  in  innocency,  but  God 
would  have  him  fully  and  wholly  to  set  himself  on 
the  seventh  day  to  serve  him,  and  in  a  holy  com- 
munion, then  more  immediately  to  meet  his  Maker, 
which  might  be  unto  him  a  heaven  in  Paradise. 
This  Sabbath  for  his  soul's  solace  was  the  sweetest 
flower  in  all  his  garden;  this  seventh  day  God  had 
blessed,  and  man  was  bound  to  keep  it  holy.  As 
there  was  a  special  tree  whereof  Adam  might  not 
eat,  so  there  was  a  special  time  that  Adam  might 
not  break.  Though  he  should  live  without  sin,  yet 
he  must  not  live  without  the  Sabbath. 


INTRODUCTION. 


God  did  publish  his  Sabbath  more  plainly  to  his 
people  upon  Mount  Sinai.  Exodus  20  :  8,9.  "jRe- 
meinbei  the  Sabbalk  day  to  keep  it  holy\"  which 
word^  as  they  concern  the  seventh  day,  so  they 
seen)  to  look  toward  it  in  a  two-fold  respect, 
both  backward  and  forward.  Bachivard,  to  the  Sab- 
bath as  a  day  already  instituted.  God  in  mercy 
hath  made  it  holy,  and  men  should  remember  to 
ke«p  it  holy.  Some  Popish  writers  say,  there  was 
no  Sabbath  set  time  before  the  Lord  proclaimed 
hif?  law  upon  Mount  Sinai,  but  all  tfie  most  ortho- 
dox say  otherwise ;  besides  that  in  Genesis  as  be- 
fore cited,  we  see  by  Exodus  16  that  it  was  an  ap- 
pointed day  before.  Forward,  as  directing  to  the 
Sabbath's  further  continuance,  a  day  that  must  be 
remaining.  Some  would  make  the  fourth  command- 
ment to  be  a  mere  transient  ceremony,  to  live  and 
die  with  the  Jewish  church.  But  if  they  grant  that 
the  other  nine  are  moral  and  perpetual,  then  this 
must  be,  for  it  is  comprised  among  them,  and  is  set 
in  the  middle  of  them,  as  the  very  heart  of  the 
whole,  as  if  the  Sabbath  were  the  center  in  which 
all  the  lines  of  God's  law  meet. 

As  St.  Paul  said  of  himself  considered  with  the 
other  apostles,  (2  Cor.  11:  22,  23,)  "Are  they  He- 
brews, so  am  I;  are  they  Israelites,  so  am  I;  are 
they  the  seed  of  Abraham,  so  am  I;  are  they  the 
ministers  of  Christ,  I  am  more,  in  labors  more 
abundant,  in  prisons  more  frequent," — so  may  the 
Sabbath  precept  say  of  itself  in  respect  of  the 
other  nine  commandments — Were  they  written  with 
the  finger  of  God  in  stone,  so  was  I;  were  they  put 
into  the  ark  safely  to  be  preserved,  so  was  I;  in 
reasons  more  urgent,  in  circumstances  more  abund- 
ant, with  more  particulars  pressing  practice  than  any 
of  the  other  precepts.  The  whole  Decalogue  or 
holy  law  of  God  was  delivered  in  thunder,  and  the 
1* 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

loudest  and  largest  clap  seemed  to  lie  upon  the 
fourth  commandment,  with  a  remembrance  to  keep 
it  holy;  as  if  at  this  the  trumpet  gave  the  largesi 
sound,  to  set  it  forth,  and  to  settle  it  fast.*  So  we 
see,  as  Mr.  Goodwin  says,  God  hath  for  his  service 
the  seventh  day  from  the  creation,  and  so  to  con- 
tinue to  the  end  of  the  world. 

That  our  Saviour  should  have  the  seventh  day 
for  the  Sabbath  of  holy  rest  and  religious  labor,  as 
relating  to  him,  suits  with  Scripture,  and  argues 
with  grounds  of  reason ;  for  Christ  wrought  as  God 
the  Father  did,  and  the  same  works  have  been 
done  by  Christ  the  Son  as  were  done  by  the 
Father.  John  5:  19.  "Jesus  answered.  Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you,  the  Son  does  nothing  of 
himself,  but  what  he  sees  the  Father  do ;  for  what- 
soever things  he  doth,  the  same  doeth  the  Son  like- 
wise." Did  God  the  Father  bless  and  sanctify  the 
seventh  day  for  his  service,  and  shall  not  the  Son 
do  the  same  1  Is  it  not  the  seventh  day  which  the 
Son  hath  sanctified  1  As  God  the  Father  rested 
from  his  works,  so  hath  Christ  the  Son  from  his. 
Heb.  4:  10.  f  Therefore  Christ  is  to  have  the 
seventh  day  of  rest  as  well  as  God  the  Father. 
Other  times  the  Lord  allows  men  for  their  ordinary 
affairs,  but  this  day  he  reserves  as  his  proper  and 
peculiar  portion. 

Christ  is  said  to  be  Lord  of  the  Sabbath ;  and 
if  Christ  be  Lord  of  the   Sabbath  day,   then  the 


*  If  the  writer  means  to  say,  that  the  fourth  commandment  is 
of  more  importance  than  either  of  the  other  nine,  we  cannot  be 
respausible  for  the  sentiment.  We  beheve  that  all  the  command- 
ments of  the  Lord  are  of  infinite  importance,  and  "every  one 
of  his  righteous  judgments  endm-eth  forever." 

tThe  writer  misapplies  this  passage.  The  reference  is  not  to 
Christ,  but  to  the  behever,  and  the  meaning  is  perfectly  well 
explained  by  Rev.  14 :  13. 


I.XTRODUCTION.  7 

seventh  day  is  the  Lord's,  (Mark  2 :  28,)  and  not 
the  first  day  of  the  week.  And  after  Christ's  bap- 
tism by  John,  (Mark  1:  9,)  "Jesus  came  into  Gali- 
lee preaching  the  Gospel  of  the  kingdom  of  God, 
saying,  Repent  ye  and  believe  the  Gospel."  "  Then 
he  called  Simon  and  Andrew,  James  and  John, 
and  they  followed  him;"  (verses  16 — 20,)  "and 
they  went  into  Capernaum,  and  straightway  on  the 
Sabbath  day  he  entered  into  the  synagogue  and 
taught  the  people."  Verse  21.  The  Sabbath 
was  made  for  man,  for  his  spiritual  and  eternal 
good.  Mark  2:  27.  "Jesus  came  into  his  own 
country,  and  his  disciples  followed  him;  and  when 
the  Sabbath  day  was  come  he  began  to  preach 
in  the  synagogue,"  (Mark  6:  1,  2,)  which  also 
proves  the  Sabbath  made  for  the  spiritual  use  of 
man.  Luke  4:  15,  16.  "After  being  tempted, 
Jesus  returned  in  the  power  of  the  spirit  into  Gali- 
lee, and  taught  in  their  synagogue ;  and  he  came  to 
Nazareth,  where  he  had  been  brought  up,  and  as 
his  custom  teas,  he  went  into  the  synagogue  on  the 
Sabbath  day,  and  stood  up  to  read,  and  preached 
the  Gospel,"  (verses  17 — 31,)  and  then  he  came 
down  to  Capernaum,  and  taught  them  on  the  Sab- 
bath day.  Besides  divers  other  places  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, which  prove  that  the  Sabbath  was  made  for 
the  spiritual  good  of  man.  So  I  think  we  have 
enough  to  prove  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  kept 
the  seventh  day  for  the  Sabbath  during  his  life, 
and  that  perfectly,  for  he  was  a  lamb  without  spot 
or  blemish.  1  Peter  1 :  19.  As  farther  proof 
that  the  Sabbath  was  made  holy  for  the  spiritual 
goad  of  man,  Christ  bids  his  disciples  pray,  that 
their  flight  be  not  on  the  Sabbath  day;  which  flight 
was  about  forty  years  after  Christ's  death;  and  if 
the  seventh  day  was  to  be  kept  forty  years  after 
Christ's  death,  to  be  sure  it  is  to  be  kept  for  the 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

Sabbath  still.  This  appears,  also,  because  Christ, 
who  received  from  his  Father  the  whole  will  of 
God,  and  was  faithful  as  a  Son  in  declaring  all  the 
things  commanded  him,  hath  not  commanded  us, 
nor  given  us  the  least  ground  or  reason  to  believe 
we  ought  to  keep  the  hrst  day  for  the  Sabbath ;  for 
Christ  said  to  his  disciples,  after  his  resurrection, 
*'  Go  disciple  all  nations,  teaching  them  to  observe 
all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you." 
Matt.  28 :  19,  20.  Therefore,  seeing  they  com- 
manded not  the  nations  to  keep  the  first  day  for  the 
Sabbath,  Christ  never  taught  them  that  doctrine, 
nor  enjoined  them  to  do  it.  Christ  saith,  (Luke 
16:  17,)  "It  is  easier  for  heaven  and  earth  to  pass, 
than  for  one  tittle  of  the  law  to  fail."  Which,  one 
would  think,  are  strong  words  of  authority  in  this 
case;  and  as  heaven  and  earth  are  not  passed 
away,  so  not  one  tittle  of  the  law  does  yet  fail. 
Surely  this  might  prove  the  seventh  day  to  be  the 
Sabbath ;  and  if  ye  will  not  believe  the  Scripture, 
neither  would  ye  be  persuaded  though  one  rose 
from  the  dead.     Luke  16:  31. 

The  apostle  doth  carefully  admonish  us  by 
Israel's  sad  example,  who  were  charged  with  de- 
spising God's  statutes  and  judgments  in  general; 
but  the  particular  sin  for  which  they  were  destroy- 
ed in  the  wilderness  was  Sabbath-breaking,  (Ezek. 
20 :  13,)  and  for  which  they  were  carried  to  Baby- 
lon seventy  years  captives.  Neh.  13:  17,  18. 
Therefore,  saith  the  apostle,  "Let  us  take  heed, 
lest  any  of  us  fall  after  the  same  example  of  un- 
belief, or  disobedience.  Heb.  3 :  12,  4:  11.  That 
the  apostles  did  own  the  Sabbath  observation  as  a 
great  virtue,  and  admonish  Christians  to  beware 
of  the  breach  of  it  as  a  most  provoking  sin,  is  ev- 
ident from  the  argument  of  James,  that  the  Sab- 
bath-breaker is  equally  condemned  with  the  bias- 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

pliemer  or  any  other  sinner.  James  2 :  7.  For 
he  that  said,  Thou  shalt  not  blaspheme  the  name 
of  the  Lord  thy  God,  said  also.  The  seventh  day  is 
the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord  thy  God.  Now  if  thou 
blaspheme  not  his  name,  yet  if  thou  profane  his 
holy  Sabbath,  thou  art  become  a  transgressor  of  the 
law;  so  speak  ye  and  so  do  as  they  that  shall  be 
judged  by  the  law. 

1.  Paul  and  his  company  went  into  the  synagogue 
at  Antioch  on  the  Sabbath  day.  Acts  13:  14 — 16. 
And  after  the  reading  of  the  law  and  the  prophets, 
St.  Paul  stood  up  and  preached  Christ  to  them, 
(verses  16 — 41,)  and  the  Gentiles  besought  Paul 
that  these  words  might  be  preached  to  them  the 
next  Sabbath;  not  the  next  morning,  upon  the  first 
day  of  the  week,  but  the  next  Sabbath.  Verse  42. 
And  it  is  certain  that  Paul  kept  the  seventh  day  for 
the  Sabbath,  and  preached  to  Jews  and  Gentiles, 
not  upon  the  first  day  of  the  week,  but  upon  the 
seventh  day.  And  we  have  the  like  in  Acts  13 ;  44. 
"  The  next  Sabbath  day,"  not  the  next  morning, 
*'  came  almost  the  v/hole  city  together  to  hear  the 
word  of  God,"  and  divers  Gentiles  were  converted 
unto  God  on  that  Sabbath  day,  (verse  48,)  and  the 
word  of  God  was  published  throughout  all  the  re- 
gion, (verse  44,)  and  the  disciples  were  filled  with 
joy,  and  with  the  Holy  Spirit.  Verse  52.  And  is 
not  this  a  desirable  frame?  And  do  not  all  these 
prove  that  the  Sabbath  was  made  for  the  spiritual 
good  of  man] 

2.  In  Iconium,  Paul  and  BaiTiabas  went  both 
of  them  together  into  the  synagogue  of  the  Jews, 
and  so  spake  that  a  great  multitude  both  of  Jews 
and  also  of  the  Greeks  believed,  (Acts  14:  3,)  and 
the  Lord  gave  testimony  to  the  word  of  his  grace, 
by  signs  and  wonders  done  by  them. 

3.  And   at   Philippi,  Paul   and   Timothy,  on  the 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

Sabbath  day,  went  out  of  the  city  by  a  river  side 
where  prayer  was  wont  to  be  made,  and  they 
spoke  to  the  women  which  resorted  thither,  where 
Lydia  was  converted,  whose  heart  the  Lord  opened 
that  she  attended  unto  the  things  which  were 
spoken  by  Paul,  and  was  baptized  and  her  house- 
hold. Acts  16:  1,  3,  13,  15.  Which  Scriptures, 
and  many  others,  do  show  and  prove  that  the  Sab- 
bath was  not  altered  to  the  first  day,  but  did  con- 
tinue after  Christ's  ascension,  and  was  observed 
both  by  Jews  and  Gentiles. 

4.  St.  Paul  at  Thessalonica,  where  was  a  syna- 
gogue of  the  Jews,  (Acts  17:  1,  2,)  as  his  manner 
was,  and  as  Christ's  manner  was,  (Luke  4:  16,) 
went  to  them,  and  three  Sabbath  days  reasoned 
with  them  out  of  the  Scriptures,  alledging  that 
Christ  must  needs  have  suffered  and  risen  again 
from  the  dead;  and  some  of  them  believed,  and 
joined  in  company  with  Paul  and  Silas;  also 
of  the  Grecians  that  feared  God  a  great  multitude, 
and  of  the  chief  women  not  a  few,  were  converted 
to  Christ  upon  the  Sabbath  day.  So  the  law  for 
keeping  holy  the  seventh  day  for  the  Sabbath  was 
not  then  passed  away,  which  was  fifty  years  or 
more  after  Christ's  resurrection,  as  history  gives 
us  account. 

5.  And  at  Corinth,  (Acts  18:  1,  5,  19,)  Paul  rea- 
soned, (that  is  preached,)  in  their  synagogues  every 
Sabbath  day,  and  persuaded  the  Jews  and  the 
Greeks.  And  what  greater,  and  what  stronger,  and 
clearer  evidence  and  proof  for  the  seventh  day  to 
be  the  Sabbath  can  men  desire,  than  these  plain 
Scriptures,  which  shew  that  it  was  at  the  first  in- 
stituted, blessed  and  made  holy,  and  through  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  used  for  the  conversion 
and  the  eternal  good  of  men] 

6.  St.  Paul  saith  positively,  (Acts  20 :  20,  26,  27,) 


INTRODUCTION.  11 

that  he  had  not  shunned  to  declare  to  the  saints  all 
the  counsel  of  God,  and  how  he  kept  back  nothing 
that  was  profitable  for  them,  but  had  shewed  them 
all  things.  And  now  I  challenge  Mr.  Ward,  or  any- 
other  man  in  the  world,  to  show  that  Paul  ever 
made  known  or  shewed  them  this  thing,  viz :  that 
it  is  their  duty  to  keep  the  first  day  of  the  week 
for  the  Sabbath.  Therefore  I  infer  that  this  is  none 
of  the  counsel  of  God,  nor  profitable  to  believers,  nor 
has  God  made  one  promise  to  the  keepers  of  it. 
I  argue  thus:  1.  Paul  declared  all  the  counsel  of 
God;  but  Paul  did  not  declare  the  first  day  of  the 
week  to  be  the  Sabbath ;  ergo,  this  is  none  of  the 
counsel  of  God.  2.  If  he  had  declared  the  first 
day  to  be  the  Sabbath,  or  made  it  known  to  the 
saints  to  be  the  counsel  of  God,  some  one  man  or 
other  can  show  us  the  place  where  it  is  WTitten, 
but  no  man  can  show  us  the  place  where  it  is  writ- 
ten in  the  Scriptures  that  Paul  declared  or  made 
known  to  the  saints  that  the  first  day  for  the  Sab- 
bath was  the  counsel  of  God ;  ergo,  it  is  none  of  the 
counsel  of  God,  for  God  never  spoke  one  word 
concerning  it. 

Upon  the.  whole,  it  is  not  a  seventh  day,  but  the 
seventh  day  Sabbath,  which  was  observed  by  the 
Lord,  and  by  Adam,  (Gen.  2 :  3,)  and  afterwards  by 
the  patriarchs,  and  by  Moses  and  the  Israelites  in 
the  wilderness  where  they  had  manna,  and  at  Mount 
Sinai,  and  at  Mount  Zion  in  Jerusalem,  and  to  the 
end  of  the  Old  Testament,  to  whom  he  gave  it  as  a 
sign  and  as  an  everlasting  covenant.  Moreover, 
not  a  seventh  day,  but  the  seventh  day,  for  the  Sab- 
bath was  observed  by  Christ  during  his  life  per- 
fectly and  constantly,  which  proves  it  not  forgotten 
nor  altered.  And  not  a  seventh,  as  Mr.  Ward  says, 
but  the  seventh  day  for  the  Sabbath,  was  observed  by 
Christ's  disciples,  inspired  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  after 


12  I.VTRODUCTIO^. 

his  resiiiTection  and  ascension,  which  also  proves  it 
not  forgotten  nor  altered  then  as  I  have  made  it 
appear.  So  much  in  this  respect  there  is  in  an  apos- 
tolic precedent,  in  my  judgment;  for  what  was  the 
practice  of  one  church,  as  a  true  church,  was  the 
duty  and  practice  of  every  church.  Therefore  be- 
lievers ought  not  to  observe  the  first  day  for  the 
Sabbath,  because  the  churches  observed  in  religious 
duties  and  worship  the  seventh  day  for  the  Sabbath, 
and  not  the  first  day  of  the  week ;  and  we  are  not 
required  to  keep  two  days  in  every  week  in  God's 
solemn  worship,  because  the  law  of  God  written 
in  the  hearts  of  believers  doth  not  teach  them  to 
observe  the  first  day  for  the  Sabbath.  "  The  Holy 
Spirit  of  truth,"  saith  Christ  our  Lord,  "shall  re- 
ceive of  mine,  and  show  it  unto  you."  Again,  he 
saith,  "The  spirit  of  truth  shall  guide  you  into  all 
truth."  John  16;  13,  14.  But  the  spirit  of  truth 
never  guided  any  man  into  the  observation  of  the 
first  day  for  the  Sabbath,  but  the  spirit  of  error  hath. 

If  the  words  which  God  spake  may  be  taken  for 
evident  proof,  then  the  holy  Scriptures  do  evident- 
ly prove  the  seventh  day  to  be  the  Sabbath  of  the 
Lord;  but  the  words  which  God  spea,ks  may  be 
taken  for  evident  proof;  ergo,  the  holy  Scriptures 
do  evidently  prove  the  seventh  day  of  the  week  to 
be  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord,  as  you  may  find  in 
Exodus  20;  9,  10.  "Six  days  shalt  thou  labor  and 
do  all  thy  work,  but  the  seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath 
of  the  Lord  thy  God."  And  we  read,  ''God  sjmhe 
all  these  words'  So  here  you  have  the  plain 
word  of  God  himself;  and  if  his  own  word  will 
not  pass  for  proof,  I  do  not  know  where  you 
will  have  a  better  evidence  for  any  matter  that  is 
believed  in  the  world. 

It  is  our  duty  to  believe  and  honor  God,  who 
hath  given  being  to  us.     We  owe  ourselves  and  all 


IXTRODUCTIOX.  l3 

we  have  unto  him,  and  therefore  of  right  whatso- 
ever he  commands  us  we  should  do.  There  is  no 
truth  but  is  excellent,  for  all  truth  is  from  God, 
from  whom  is  nothing  but  truth,  and  it  is  all  men's 
duty  to  acquaint  themselves  therewith,  and  be 
obedient.  It  is  not  only  duty  but  privilege ;  for 
whatsoever  God  hath  commanded  is  for  our  good, 
though  few  men  act  as  if  they  believed  it  were  true. 
I  am  sensible  that  I  am  upon  a  great  disadvan- 
tage in  v.hat  I  have  here  said  concerning  the  Sab- 
bath, because  the  far  greater  number  of  zealous 
professors  are  so  possessed  with  ill-will  to  this  doc- 
trine, that  they  will  hardly  be  willing  to  read,  much 
less  consider,  what  is  offered  of  this  kind  for 
their  ^ood.  The  zealous  Jews  v/ere  not  more 
j^rejudiced  against  our  Saviour  than  many  pro- 
fessors are  against  this  doctrine  of  the  Sabbath; 
but  know  that  it  is  commendable  and  honorable  for 
persons  professing  godliness,  to  compare  what  they 
read  in  the  holy  Scriptures  and  hear,  as  the  Bereans 
did,  who  hereupon  rendered  themselves  more  noble 
than  those  of  Thessalonica.  Acts  17:  11.  Truth 
is  so  worthy  a  jewel,  that  wise  Solomon  doth  coun- 
sel us  to  buy  it,  whatever  it  cost.  Prov.  23 :  23. 
And  this  truth  now  in  controversy  is  of  great  con- 
cernment, rightly  to  vmderstand  which  day  we 
should  keep  for  the  Sabbath.  There  is  no  truth 
so  small  but  is  worthy  to  be  known,  no  duty  so  in- 
considerable as  to  render  obedience  unnecessary 
or  indifferent.  Remember  Lot's  wife,  who  for 
looking  back  was  turned  into  a  pillar  of  salt.  Gen. 
19 :  26.  Nadab  and  Abihu  were  smitten  with  fire 
from  heaven  for  offering  strange  fire.  Lev.  10 ;  2. 
Achan  destroyed  for  saving  of  the  spoils  against 
God's  command.  Joshua  7 :  20,  21.  Kinsf  Saul 
threatened  with  the  loss  of  his  kingdom  for  being 
disobedient  to  God's  command,  "for  rebellion  is  as 
2 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

the  sin  of  witchcraft,  and  stubbornness  is  as  iniqui- 
ty and  idolatry;  because  thou  hast  rejected  the 
word  of  the  Lord,  he  hath  also  rejected  thee  from 
being  king."  1  Samuel  15 :  23.  And  the  men  of 
Bethshemesh,  for  looking  into  the  ark  of  the  Lord, 
"even  he  smote  of  the  people  above  fifty  thousand." 
1  Samuel  6 :  19.  Uzzah  slain  for  touching  the  ark 
of  the  Lord.  1  Chron.  13 :  10.  And  the  young 
man's  salvation  rendered  irAprobable  for  not  part- 
ing with  his  possessions  when  commanded  by  Christ. 
Matt.  19:  21.  Ananias  and  his  wife  for  telling  a 
lie  were  struck  with  death.  Acts  5 :  5.  These  by 
many  are  thought  but  small  sins;  yet  divine  judg- 
ments attended  these  sinners,  and  it  is  but  just  that 
they  who  will  not  obey  in  little  things  should  be 
denied  a  great  reward. 

Objection.  We  see  no  such  punishments  in  oui 
days  upon  persons  profaning  the  Sabbath. 

Ansiver.  "Because  sentence  against  an  evil  work 
is  not  executed  speedily,  therefore  the  hearts  of  the 
sons  of  men  are  fully  set  in  them  to  do  evil."  Ecc. 
S:  11.  Though  God  does  not  punish  persons  for 
polluting  his  Sabbath,  yet  in  that  he  leaves  them  for 
this  unto  other  sins,  their  case  is  worse.  Too  many 
such  are  manifest.  From  men  who  on  the  Sabbath 
day  do  not  regard  God's  assisting  grace  to  help 
them  in  good,  God  on  the  week  days  withholds  his 
restraining  grace  that  might  keep  them,  from  evil, 
even  sin,  the  worst  of  evils. 

1.  It  is  a  punishment  that  God  does  not  punish 
them.  Hosea4:  14,19.  "I  will  not  punish  your 
daughters  when  they  commit  whoredom,  nor  your 
wives  when  they  commit  adultery.  Ephraim  is 
joined  to  idols,  let  him  alone."  A  dreadful  judg- 
ment! therefore  hear,  fear  and  obey  God's  com- 
mands.     When  he   does   not    punish   persons  for 


INTRODUCTION'.  15 

polluting  and  neglecting  his  Sabbath,  this  is  a  sore 
punishment;  yea,  it  is  a  notable  punishment,  says  a 
learned  writer,  and  a  dreadful  revenge,  when  God 
seems  to  indulge,  and  as  it  were  overlook,  sinful 
men.  As  God  shows  love  in  correcting,  so  he 
shows  wrath  when  he  does  not  correct.  It  was 
mercy  to  me,  may  some  man  say,  that  I  was  chastis- 
ed. It  vms  good  for  me,  says  David,  that  licas  ajlict- 
ed.  So  every  wicked  one  shall  one  day  say,  It  was 
ill  for  me  that  I  was  not  afflicted;  it  was  a  judg- 
ment to  me  that  God  did  noScorrect  me;  the  less 
smart  on  earth,  the  more  pain  in  hell.  It  is  a  tei- 
rible  punishment  upon  some  Sabbath-breakers,  to 
break  the  Sabbath,  and  yet  to  pass  unpunished. 

2.  God  sends  sad  judgments  for  this  which  men 
do  not  see ;  for  as  a  judge  he  smites  them  with 
blindness  of  mind,  and  hardness  of  heart,  and 
threatens  to  make  the  earth  as  brass,  and  the 
heavens  as  iron.  Lev.  26 :  19.  Iron  hearts  are 
worse  than  iron  heavens.  Yea,  God  for  sins  against 
his  Sabbath  gives  men  up  to  follow  their  own 
fancies,  and  eagerly  to  pursue  their  own  seduce- 
ments.  "Because  they  despised  my  statutes,  and 
polluted  my  Sabbath,  I  gave  them  statutes  that 
were  not  good,  and  judgments  whereby  they  should 
not  live ;  and  I  polluted  them  in  their  own  gifts." 
Ezek.  20  :  24,  25.  Under  such  punishments  people 
perish  and  perceive  it  not. 

3.  Though  God  does  not  appear  presently  to 
punish  such  men,  yet  he  will  appear  ere  long.  God 
is  fitting  himself  to  be  sure  to  inflict  punishments 
upon  such  as  defile  his  holy  day ;  for  as  he  is  the 
Lord  of  the  Sabbath,  so  he  is  Lord  of  hosts.  He 
that  is  the  Lord  of  this  day  hath  many  hosts  at  his 
command,  wherewith  he  is  ready  to  give  battle  to 
all  the  breakers  of  his  blessed  Sabbath.  Josephus, 
speaking  of  the  battle  in  Judges  5th,  wherein  God 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

fought  against  Sisera  with  an  host  of  men,  an 
host  of  stars,  an  host  of  storms,  an  host  of  rain, 
hail  and  winds,  says,  "  There  fell  such  a  sud- 
,den  and  terrible  tempest,  beating  full  on  the 
faces  of  the  Canaanites,  as  took  away  their  sight, 
and  benumbed  their  hands,  that  they  could  not 
hold  their  shields  nor  fling  their  darts ;  but  beat  so 
on  the  backs  of  the  Israelites  as  emboldened  them 
the  more."  God  indeed  does  not  immediately  make 
war  with  men  that  misuse  his  Sabbath,  but  he  hath 
his  forces  ready  to  fi^t  them;  his  armies  are  mus- 
tered, and  ready  to  march;  all  his  weapons  of  war 
are  prepared.  God  hath  such  days  drawing  near, 
when  he  will  certainly  proceed  against  Sabbath 
sinners. 

Question.  But  why  may  not  the  first  day  serve  for 
the  Sabbath  as  well  as  the  seventh,  being  that  it  is 
the  law  of  the  land]  Is  there  any  more  virtue  in 
the  seventh  than  in  the  first] 

Ansiver.  1.  The  first  day  will  not  serve,  because 
it  is  not  the  day  God  hath  appointed.  Naaman  the 
leper  did  think  the  waters  of  Damascus  to  be  of 
the  same  virtue  with  the  waters  of  Israel,  or  better. 
^^  May  I  not  wash  in  them  and  he  clean  V^  2  Kings 
5 :  12.  God  had  appointed  him  to  wash  in  Jordan, 
not  that  there  was  more  virtue  in  that  water,  but 
God  did  appoint  him  to  wash  in  Jordan,  and  he  did 
wash  and  was  clean.  Washing  in  Jordan  was  a 
necessary  part  of  God's  appointment.  So  God  hath 
appointed  us  to  keep  the  seventh  day  for  the  Sab- 
bath ;  the  seventh  day,  and  not  the  first,  is  likewise  a 
necessary  part  of  God's  appointment. 

2.  The  first  day  may  not  serve,  because  thereby 
the  end  of  the  commandment  is  lost,  since  God 
blessed  and  sanctified  the  seventh  day  for  his  own 
worship  and  service,  and  not  the  first  day. 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

3.  The  first  day  may  not  serve  for  ilie  Sabbatli, 
because  we  should  keep  the  commandments  as  they 
were  given.  The  seventh  day  God  commands  us 
to  keep  holy,  and  in  it  we  should  not  do  any  work. 

4.  The- first  day  will  not  serve,  because  God  is 
a  jealous  God,  and  stands  upon  small  things  in 
matters  of  his  commands.  It  is  likely  that  Nadab 
and  Abihu  thought  that  if  they  put  fire  in  the 
censer  it  might  serve,  though  it  were  not  fire  from 
the  altar;  but  God  calls  it  strange  fire,  and  there- 
fore he  burns  them  with  fire.  Lev.  10:  2.  And 
Moses  adds,  "  This  is  what  God  hath  said,  I  will  be 
sanctified  in  them  that  draw  nigh  unto  me,  and  be- 
fore all  the  people  I  will  be  glorified."  God  bade 
Moses  sj)cak  to  the  rock,  but  Moses  iiistead  thereof 
smote  the  rock,  and  therefore  he  died  and  could 
not  go  into  the  land  of  Canaan.  Numbers  20:  8, 
11,  12.  Now  all  these  things  happened  unto  them 
for  examples,  and  they  are  written  for  our  admoni- 
tion, that  we  should  not  break  God's  command- 
ments. 

5.  The  first  day  may  not  serve  for  a  Sabbath,  be- 
cause it  is  high  presumjition  to  change  God's  com- 
mands. Is  not  God  wise  enough  to  appoint  his 
own  time  of  worship,  and  how  it  shall  be  perform- 
ed? "The  earth  is  defiled  under  the  inhabitants 
thereof,  because  they  have  transgressed  the  laws, 
changed  the  ordinance,  and  broken  the  everlasting 
covenant."     Isaiah  24 :  5. 

If  then,  in  Church  and  State,  we  would  have 
things  go  well,  and  do  desire  such  men  to  be  settled 
as  may  govern  for  God,  let  us  see  to  the  sanctifica- 
tion  of  the  Sabbath.  God  makes  breaches  in  men's 
government,  when  they  make  breaches  in  his  com- 
mandments. The  way  to  keep  good  government 
whole,  is  to  keep  God's  Sabbath  holy;  yea,  this 
2* 


18  INTRODUCTION. 

will  bring  an  obedient  respect  to  governors  that  are 
good.  People  that  profane  and  pollute  God's  Sab- 
bath will  contemn  and  reject  good  rules.  That  is 
a  sad  case  in  Lamentations  2 :  6,  "He  hath  destroy- 
ed his  place  of  the  assembly;  the  Lord  hath  caused 
the  solemn  feasts  and  sabbaths  to  be  forgotten  in 
Zion,  and  hath  despised,  in  the  indignation  of  his 
anger,  the  king  and  the  priest."  The  Lord  then, 
as  a  testimony  of  his  terrible  displeasure,  did  suffer 
such  to  be  despised.  Where  Sabbaths  are  not  re- 
membered, there  superiors  are  not  regarded.  None 
so  soon  give  to  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's 
as  they  who  first  give  to  God  the  things  that  are 
God's.  Remarkable  is  God's  method  in  the  ten  com- 
mandments; first  remember  the  Sabbath,  and  next 
honor  thy  father;  whether  he  be  a  natural,  civil,  or 
spiritual  father,  the  way  to  honor  the  father  is  first 
to  remem.ber  the  Sabbath.  No  marvel  if  such  as 
make  little  of  the  fourth  commandment,  make  no- 
thing of  the  fifth ;  indeed  none  will  make  more 
of  the  fifth  commandment,  than  they  that  make 
most  of  the  fourth.  We  shall  find  it  clear,  that 
such  as  most  embrace  God's  commandments,  will 
best  obey  good  governors. 

Reader,  whoever  thou  art,  that  desirest  to  know 
the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  Christ,  this  know,  that  it 
was  pure  love  to  the  Lord  and  thee,  that  drew  forth 
these  lines  from  me;  and  I  can  assure  thee,  that  it 
hath  cost  me  much  labor  of  love  to  bring  it  forth  to 
public  view.  It  hath  been  near  strangling  in  the 
birth  once  and  again;  and  had  there  not  been  some 
appearance  of  the  hand  of  the  Holy  One  of  Israel 
in  the  managing  of  it,  it  had  not  seen  the  light,  but 
had  been  abortive ;  which  hath  abundantly  satisfied 
me  that  there  is  a  blessing  in  it. 

And  as  to  the  work  itself,  all  may  perceive  that  I 


INTRODUCTION.  19 

have  taken  no  small  pains,  according  to  my  small 
ability,  in  searching  not  only  into  God's  Word,  but 
also  into  the  works  and  labors  of  many  pious  and 
learned  authors ;  and  I  have  cited  many  passages 
out  of  their  writings,  thinking  their  words  might 
do  more  good  with  some  persons  than  anything  I 
myself  might  say,  since  their  learaing  and  abilities 
far  exceed  mine. 

Reader,  let  me  entreat  thee  to  lay  to  heart  these 
few  things,  and  labor  to  answer  not  my  will  only, 
but  the  will  of  God  herein. 

First,  discover  so  much  of  a  Christ-like  spirit,  as 
not  to  be  rash  in  censuring,  which  is  the  great  evil 
of  the  day,  but  try  all  things  by  the  Scriptures  of 
truth,  and  hold  fast  that  which  is  good. 

The  second  thing  which  I  would  desire  of  thee, 
is  to  beware  of  conceiting'  highly  of  thine  own 
attainments  in  the  things  of  God.  Consider  that 
passage  of  Paul,  "  If  any  man  think  he  knoweth 
any  thing,  he  knoweth  nothing  yet  as  he  ought  to 
know."     1  Cor.  8:  2. 

Thirdly,  be  very  wary  how  thou  dost  dally  or 
play  with  those  glimmerings  of  light  which  God 
hath  given  thee,  or  may  give  thee,  in  this  or  any 
other  truth.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  God  may  again 
take  up  the  complaint  he  made  of  the  priests  of  old, 
touching  many  of  his  professing  people  in  this  our 
day,  '*  They  have  hid  their  eyes  from  my  Sahhath, 
and  I  am  profaned  ainongst  themr  Ezek.  22:  2^. 
But  God  is  still  raising  up  one  and  another  to 
plead  his  cause  herein,  and  it  will  be  dreadful  for 
those  who,  having  had  Sabbath  light  and  means 
communicated  unto  them  in  a  full  cup,  yea,  running 
over,  yet  have  remained  as  in  a  dry  and  thirsty 
land,  where  no  such  waters  have  been. 

Fourthly,  let  me  entreat  this  of  thee,  that  tholj 
wouldest  cry  mightily  to  the  Father  of  spirits,  to  en- 


20  Il\TRODUL•TI0^. 

lighten  the  eyes  of  thine  inidcrstanding,  that  thou 
mayest  see  the  wonderful  things  of  his  law;  then 
the  seventh  day  for  the  Sabbath  will  not  be  so 
strange  as  it  is  true. 

And,  lastly,  beware  of  esteeming  or  disesteeming 
this  pure  and  profitable  truth,  or  any  other  whatso- 
ever, according  to  the  sufficiency  or  deficiency  of 
its  advocates,  lest  your  faith  stand  in  the  wisdom 
of  men,  and  not  in  the  power  of  God.  This  hath 
been  the  way  of  the  old  adversary  in  all  ages,  to 
cast  odiums  to  blemish  the  persons  pleading  the 
truth,  that  thereby  he  might  hinder  truth  in  its  pro- 
gress.    This  is  well  known  to  the  saints. 

Though  you  may  be  reproached  and  persecuted 
by  the  dragon  and  his  followers  for  your  subjection 
to  the  Lord  in  this  truth  of  his,  as  v/e  have  been, 
yet  are  we  to  follow  the  Lamb  whithersoever  he 
goeth ;  for  if,  when  we  have  once  set  our  hands  to 
the  Lord's  plough,  we  should  look  back,  we  shall 
be  found  unfit  for  the  kingdom  of  God ;  but  if  we 
suffer  with  Christ,  we  shall  also  reign  with  him ; 
if  we  deny  him,  he  will  deny  us.  "It  is  good," 
saith  Paul,  "to  be  zealously  affected  always  in  a 
good  thing."  And  he  saith  also,  "  That  the  law  is 
holy,  and  the  commandment  holy,  just  and  good." 
Therefore  are  we  zealous  for  it.  Zeal  is  the  life 
of  religion.  A  Laodicean  spirit  the  Lord  approves 
not  of,  he  having  said  that  such  as  are  luke-warm 
professors  he  will  spue  out  of  his  mouth — a  dread- 
ful judgment. 

Reader,  I  pray  God  to  open  thine  eyes,  that  thou 
mayest  behold  the  wonderful  things  of  God's  law, 
and  that  thou  mayest  think  on  thy  ways,  and  turn 
thy  feet  unto  his  testimonies,  for  the  idols  shall  be 
utterly  abolished,  and  they  shall  be  all  confounded 
that  are  worshipers  of  graven  images,  and  that 
turn  the  truth  of  God  into  a  lie,  and  who  worship 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

and  serve  creatures,  forsaking  the  Creator,  who  is 
God  blessed  forever.  And  such  are  the  command- 
ments and  doctrines  of  men,  with  the  defenders 
and  adorners  thereof,  that  are  set  up  in  opposition 
to  God's  holy  and  righteous  law,  that  the  Lord  v/ill 
say  to  such  one  day,  "  JVko  hath  required  these 
things  at  your  hands  V — and  as  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  said,  "  In  vain  do  ye  ivorship  me,  teaching  for 
doctrines  the  commandments  of  men^  It  was  part 
of  the  sin  of  Jeroboam,  who  made  Israel  to  sin, 
that  when  he  had  apostatized  from  the  pure  wor- 
ship of  God,  he  ordained  a  feast  like  to  that  which 
God  ordained  in  Judah,  and  set  apart  also  a  time 
for  worship,  even  to  sacrifice  to  the  calves  which 
he  had  made.  But  the  spirit  of  God  leaves  it  upon 
record,  as  a  brand-mark  of  infamy  upon  him,  and 
tells  us,  that  it  was  the  device  of  his  own  wicked 
heart.  And  it  is  sadly  to  be  lamented,  how  many 
professors  do  at  this  day,  like  Israel  of  old,  willing- 
ly walk  after  the  commandments  of  men,  and  take 
all  for  truth  that  is  taught  them  by  their  leaders, 
without  comparing  it  with  the  law  and  testimony, 
and  searching  the  Scriptures  like  those  noble 
Bereans,  to  see  vv'hether  those  things  are  so  or  not. 
And  that  the  Lord  the  God  of  blessings  may  bless 
what  is  here  written  to  his  people  for  their  good,  is 
the  prayer  of  him  who  doth  subscribe  himself  your 
servant  for  the  truth's  sake,  and  for  your  soul'" 
sake,  GEORGE  CARLOW. 


ADVERTISEMENT    TO    THE    READER. 


One  mode  of  doing-  good  in  our  life,  and  af- 
ter our  death,  may  be  by  printing  good  books, 
consonant  to  the  holy  Scriptures,  and  leaving  them 
behind  us  in  the  world,  for  the  benefit  of  our  pos- 
terity. We  leave  them  as  it  w^ere  in  our  stead,  to 
speak  and  instruct  when  we  are  dead,  as  a  living 
testimony  to  give  counsel  and  information  to  all 
that  will  jDeruse  and  consider  the  matter  contained 
in  them,  wherein  they  shall  find  the  same  truth  as- 
serted which  we  have  practiced,  and  the  same  faith 
confirmed  and  vindicated  which  we  have  professed, 
with  errors  discovered  and  opposed,  and  the  true 
constitution  of  a  gospel  church  declared  and  pub- 
lished, according  to  the  true  pattera,  both  for  doc- 
trine and  discipline,  and  the  first  principles  restor- 
ed to  their  primitive  institution,  and  much  good 
counsel  and  direction,  in  order  to  the  honoring  and 
adorning  the  true  profession  by  a  holy  life  and 
good  conversation. 

Objection.  There  are  but  few  that  can  indite  and 
write  books  to  live  and  speak  when  they  are  dead. 

Answer.  Although  they  cannot  vmte  books,  yet 
they  can  purchase  and  disperse  them;  and  what 
they  gain  by  reading  them  to  their  understanding, 
they  may  take  occasion  to  impart  the  same  to 
others  for  their  insti'uction.  Although  they  are  not 
the  chief  instruments,  yet  they  are  good  seconds, 
and  necessary  assistants  to  encourage  the  author  in 
his  gospel  labors,  prosecuting  the  same  cause,  pro- 
moting the  same  good  things,  like  joint  partners 
and  fellow-helpers  in  their  respective  places  in  the 


ADVERTISEMENT  TO  THE  READER. 

public  and  general  cause  of  tlie  gospel  of  the  bless- 
ed Jesus,  in  order  to  the  enlightening  and  convert- 
ing of  poor  souls.  To  take  it  in  an  evil  sense,  as 
we  used  to  say,  a  receiver  is  as  bad  as  a  thief; 
and  in  a  good  sense,  by  the  same  rule,  a  disperser 
is  the  same  with  the  author  in  nature  though  not 
in  measure.  And  although  they  are  not  WTiters 
and  printers,  yet  they  are  good  instructors  and  dis- 
persers  of  the  same  principles,  aiming  at  the  same 
end,  desiijning:  the  same  interest,  even  the  interest 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  This  is  another  way 
and  means  in  which,  although  the  author  should  be 
dead,  yet  his  sermons  and  writings  may  live,  speak, 
and  do  good.  To  conclude  this  particular,  we  have 
cause  to  be  thankful  to  Almighty  God,  for  his  sin- 
gular providence  in  qualifying  his  servants  with 
abilities,  and  providing  such  seasonable  opportuni- 
ties, and  also  giving  them  hearts  to  do  good  in  their 
lives,  and  also  to  endeavor  still  to  do  good  after 
they  are  laid  down  to  sleep  in  their  graves;  such 
zealous  professors  will  be  approved  for  faithful 
stewards,  and  commended  for  loyal  subjects,  for 
their  diligent  using  and  well  improving  their  Mas- 
ter's goods,  and  as  trusty  servants  shall  be  well  re- 
compensed, and  fully  and  eternally  rewarded. 


DEFENSE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 


Mr.  Ward — 

I  have  heard  you  expound  the  eighth,  ninth, 
tenth,  and  eleventh  verses  of  the  twentieth  chap- 
ter of  Exodus,  and  have  considered  your  exposi- 
tions; and  after  waiting  upon  the  Lord,  I  have 
found  my  heart  engaged  to  make  some  observations 
for  the  sake  of  those  who  are  ignorant,  and  weak 
in  the  faith,  and  for  your  own  sake.  For  it  may  be, 
God  will  bring  you  to  repentance  for  the  abuse  of 
his  holy  Sabbath.  You  have  made  the  fourth  com- 
mandment of  none  effect  by  your  tradition,  like  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees;  for  the  sense,  to  the  Jews, 
was  the  seventh  day-;  to  the  Gentiles,  you  say  it  is  a 
seventh  day,  or  the  first  day,  or  one  day  in  the 
week,  just  what  you  please  to  make  it.  But  this 
is  not  to  learn  of  Christ  and  his  apostles  how  to 
expound  the  Scriptures.  Never  was  any  of  God's 
ten  commandments  so  wrested  and  abused  in  expo- 
sition, as  the  fourth  commandment  is ;  for  the  fourth 
commandment  enjoins  a  day  definite,  fixed,  and 
certain,  w^hich  day  is  the  seventh  day,  which  Moses 
and  the  prophets  taught  the  church  of  Israel.  But 
the  fourth  commandment  doth  no  where  enjoin  a 
time,  or  a  day  uncertain  and  indefinite.  If  it 
doth,  show  me  in  what  part  of  the  commandment. 
Wherefore,  this  is  to  make  nothing  of  something, 
3 


26  DEFENSE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

and  to  make  God's  commandment  that  whereof 
there  is  not  a  word  in  the  text.  You  reject  God^s 
time  expressed,  and  by  a  false  gloss  of  your  expo  ■ 
sition,  you  crowd  into  the  text  your  own  device  of 
a  time;  you  put  out  what  God  commanded,  and 
put  in  what  God  commanded  not.  Herein  you 
are  like  those  wicked  priests  in  Malachi  2 :  8, 
**Ye  are  gone  out  of  the  way,  ye  have  caused 
many  to  stumble  at  the  law,  saith  the  Lord;"  that 
is,  by  their  false  exposition  of  it. 

I  marvel  why  you  and  others  had  rather  have  a 
time  of  man's  appointment  than  God's;  and  if  the 
law  of  nature  teaches  us  to  set  apart  some  time,  as 
you  say,  for  the  service  of  God,  can  the  light  of  na- 
ture, unless  it  is  revealed  by  the  Scriptures,  tell  us 
which  is  God's  time  ]  I  think  the  light  of  Scripture 
should  rather  determine  what  is  moral  and  what 
not,  than  the  blind  light  of  nature.  But  men  that 
love  not  all  God's  ordinances  as  well  as  some,  set 
their  wits  on  work  to  devise  any  thing  to  overthrow 
the  ancient  ordinance  of  God's  Sabbath.  But  how 
dwelleth  the  love  of  God  in  you,  to  fight  against 
God  and  his  law  in  the  fourth  commandment? 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  notion  that  the  Sabbath  requires  simply  one  seventh  part 
of  time  to  be  dedicated  to  the  Lord,  confuted. 

When  we  alledge  the  fourth  commandment  for 
the  Sabbath,  they  say  the  fourth  commandment  may 
be  translated  a  Sabbath,  and  a  seventh  day.  By  a 
Sabbath  is  meant  any  one  day  of  the  seven,  indefi- 
nite— uncertain  which  day — one  as  well  as  another. 
By  the  Sabbath  is  meant  the  seventh  and  last  day 
of  the  week  only. 

Confutation  I. — This  new  translation  of  a  Sab- 
bath and  a  seventh  day,  is  contrary  to  the  Hebrew 
tongue,  and  to  the  skill  of  all  our  learned  English 
translators ;  for  in  our  Bibles  they  translate  it  the 
Sabbath,  and  the  seventh  day,  as  you  read  in  Ex- 
odus 20:  8—11. 

Secondly — Moses  and  the  prophets  kept  the 
seventh-day  Sabbath  for  thousands  of  years  by  the 
fourth  commandment,  as  a  time  certain,  not  uncer- 
tain ;  therefore  the  fourth  commandment  must  be  ex- 
pounded of  the  Sabbath  and  the  seventh  day,  not  of  a 
Sabbath  and  a  seventh  day,  unless  you  think  Moses 
and  the  prophets  understood  not  the  Hebrew  tongue 
and  the  commandment.  The  sense  of  Scripture 
changeth  not  with  the  times.  If  the  fourth  com- 
mandment was  in  Moses'  and  the  prophets'  times 
understood  to  require  the  seventh  day,  it  must  have 
the  same  sense  and  exposition  to  the  world's  end. 
But  Mr.  Ward,  and  others  in  our  day,  have  found 
out  new  expositions ;  as  some  time,  and  a  time,  and 
any  time,  save  God's  time. 

Thirdly — The  word  seventh  is  an  ordinal  number; 
it  puts  things  in  order;  it  notes  not  any  one  thing 
of  the  seven,  uncertain  which,  but  the  last  of  the 


28  THE    SABBATH, 

seven  in  order,  as  you  may  see  in  these  ordinal 
numbers  ending  with  tli ;  as  the  'ioMxth  or  fit7/i  day 
of  the  month,  or  year;  as  the  six^/j  or  seven^/i  year 
of  the  king's  reign.  So  the  seventh  day  for  the  Sab- 
bath is  not  any  one  of  the  seven,  but  the  last  day 
of  the  seven  in  order.  There  is  but  one  first  day 
of  the  v^^eek  in  Scripture,  which  you  call  Sun- 
day;  wherefore  count  onward  and  you  shall  find 
the  day  you  call  Saturday  to  be  the  seventh  day. 
So  there  can  be  but  one  seventh  day  in  Scripture 
account;  and  being  but  one,  it  must  be  not  a  sev- 
enth, but  the  seventh. 

Mr.  Ward  says  that  the  seventh  day  was  not  com- 
manded by  the  fourth  commandment,  but  one  day 
of  seven,  in  the  original,  or  a  seventh  part  of  time. 
It  is  very  strange  with  what  conscience  some  men 
pretending  to  learning  can  thus  abuse  the  simple. 
May  not  Jesuits  take  the  like  liberty  in  other 
cases  %  If  the  translation  be  not  as  it  ought  to  be, 
why  do  they  not  move  for  amendment]  Or  why  is 
it  not  corrected  in  the  margin,  as  many  other  places 
of  Scripture  are ']  But  others,  however,  who  know 
the  Hebrew  as  well  as  Mr.  Ward,  do  affirm  the  con- 
trary;  and  say  the  words  in  the  Hebrew  are  Hashab- 
bath,  the  Sabbath,  and  Hashebipii,  the  seventh. 
Now  the  particle  Ha,  j^refixed  in  both  words,  is  a 
note  of  demonstration,  signifying  the  or  this  certain 
thing,  not  a  or  any  thing,  uncertain  which  or  what, 
unless  it  be  when  the  particle  Ha  hath  no  sense. 
So  saith  Mr.  Ainsworth  on  Genesis  1 ;  and  so  saith 
Mr.  Robertson  in  his  Hebrew  Grammar. 

Not  only  the  seventh  day  emphatically  is  ex- 
pressed to  be  the  Sabbath,  both  in  the  Hebrev/  and 
English,  but  that  day  is  pointed  out  by  the  reason 
urged  in  the  command msnt,  viz.,  "  That  in  six  days 
God,  made  heaven  and  earth,  and  rested  the  seventh 
daif — not  a  sevejith  day;    it  was  the   seventh  day 


NOT   MERELY  A  SEVENTH  PART  OF  TIME.  29 

on  which  God  rested,  and  therefore  it  is  the  seventh 
day  that  he  here  commands  in  Exodus  20,  For 
it  is  the  same  day  of  the  week  that  he  commanded, 
on  which  God  rested;  and  the  argument  of  the 
text  were  very  incogent  to  caiTy  it  otherwise,  viz., 
that  because  God  rested  the  seventh  day,  therefore 
you  must  rest  a  seventh  day. 

The  day  here  commanded  as  the  Sabbath  day  was 
known  to  Israel  before  this,  as  Ex.  16  witnesseth; 
and  that  day  was  known  to  be  the  seventh  day,  and 
so  called.  It  was  that  same  day  which  Israel  kept 
before,  and  that  was  the  seventh  day;  therefore  the 
seventh  day  was  here  commanded.  And  where 
shall  we  find  a  better  account  of  it  than  in  Gen.  2, 
which  declares  it  was  the  seventh  day.  If  it 
were  a  seventh  of  man's  naming  as  he  pleased,  then 
any  day  would  answer  the  end  of  the  command- 
ment, and  so  it  would  command  no  certain  seventh 
day.  Wherefore  the  man  that  gathered  sticks  on 
the  seventh  day,  had  he  known  of  this  evasion, 
might  have  escaped  death  by  claiming  to  regard 
another  day,  and  calling  it  a  seventh. 

Mr.  Ward  says  it  was  not  the  seventh  day  in 
order  of  the  creation  that  was  commanded  unto 
Israel,  but  the  seventh  day  after  six  days  raining  of 
manna.     Ex.  16. 

I  answer,  that  the  text  is  pressed  to  serve  this 
fancy !  In  the  first  place,  it  does  not  so  much  as 
suggest  that  the  manna  rained  just  six  days  before 
that  seventh  or  Sabbath  day  afterward  spoken  of; 
and  therefore  I  deny  that  any  text  of  Scripture  will 
prove,  that  the  seventh  day  from  the  beginning  of 
manna  to  rain  was  made  or  appointed  for  the  Sab- 
bath. But  suppose  it  were  so,  yet  how  doth  it  ap- 
pear that  it  was  not  the  seventh  day  in  order  from 
the  creation]  If  that  can  be  made  out,  what  does 
this  make  against  the  seventh-day  Sabbath,  unless 
3* 


30  THE    SAIIIJATII, 

it  can  be  proved  that  it  was  made  the  SaLbath  to 
Israel,  not  because  God  rested  on  it,  but  because 
the  manna  ruined  six  days  before  ? — a  task,  I  be- 
lieve, too  difficult  ever  to  be  performed  by  Mr. 
Ward. 

2dly.  Suppose  the  manna  to  have  begun  to  rain 
on  the  first  day  of  the  week  in  the  order  of  crea- 
tion, and  to  have  ceased  the  seventh,  then  the  Sab- 
bath there  apjDointed  was  that  on  which  God  rest- 
ed, and  which  he  had  blessed  or  made  a  sanctified 
day;  and  on  the  same  ground  that  he  did  so  bless 
the  seventh  day,  he  commanded  it  to  Israel,  (Ex. 
20,)  viz.,  because  that  in  it  he  rested  from  all  his 
works.  But  there  is  not  one  word  of  the  raining 
of  manna  as  the  ground  thereof.  And  if  the  rain- 
ing of  manna  had  been  the  foundation  of  it,  and  it 
had  not  been  the  seventh  in  order  of  the  creation, 
with  what  right  or  propriety  is  that  reason  of  God's 
working  and  resting,  inserted  in  the  commandment, 
alledged,  while  the  raining  of  manna,  the  conceiv- 
ed proper  occasion,  is  wholly  omitted]  But  I  con- 
clude it  is  much  more  becoming  men  professing 
godliness  to  call  that  day  the  seventh  which  God 
called  so,  (Gen.  2,)  and  that  the  Sabbath  which  he 
sanctified  and  commanded,  than  to  forsake  the  word 
of  truth  to  adhere  to  unheard-of  notions,  and  things 
which  neither  Scripture  nor  right  reason  will  war- 
rant— to  sjDeak  of  one  Sabbath  at  the  creation  of 
the  world,  another  in  Ex.  16,  and  another  at  the 
resurrection  of  Christ,  by  which  notion  Mr.  Ward 
would  make  three  Sabbaths,  if  I  mistake  not. 

3dly.  The  seventh  day  in  Gen.  2 :  3,  is  that  first 
seventh  day  on  which  God  rested,  and  not  another 
seventh  day,  which  should  be  2450  years  after, 
when  the  law  should  be  given  at  Mount  Sinai;  for, 
the  conjunction  will  not  admit  of  such  a  distinction 
or  dtvision  of  the  day  in  the  third  verse   from  the 


NOT  MEr.ELY  A  SEVENTH   PART  OF  TIME.  31 

seventh  day  in  the  second  verse,  to  make  them  to 
be  put  asunder  as  far  as  the  creation  was  from  the 
promulgation  of  the  law  on  Mount  Sinai,  two 
thousand  four  hundred  and  fifty  years. 

4thly.  The  reason  that  is  annexed  in  Gen.  2 :  3, 
tieth  us  to  that  first  seventh  day  on  which  God  rest- 
ed, and  not  to  another  seventh  day  to  come  after; 
for  if  the  seventh  day  be  understood  of  any  other 
seventh  day  than  that  on  which  he  rested  immedi- 
ately after  six  days  work,  that  reason  cannot  be 
be  good.  To  this  first  seventh  day  God  hath  refer- 
ence in  Ex.  20:  11,  and  to  no  other  seventh  day; 
therefore  must  the  words  be  understood  of  the  first 
seventh  day.  The  Lord,  also,  in  the  promulgation 
of  the  law,  doth  fetch  from  Genesis  the  origin  of 
the  Sabbath,  laying  it  as  the  ground  of  the  precept 
to  keep  it  holy  m  Ex.  20:   11. 

It  is  worth  our  observation,  that  their  keeping  of 
the  Sabbath  is  not  urged  from  the  commandment 
lately  given  in  the  decalogue,  but  from  the  first 
seventh  day's  rest  and  refreshment  after  God's  six 
days  work,  as  you  may  read  in  Ex.  31:   15 — 17. 

Moses,  in  Ex.  16 :  26,  maketh  mention  of  six 
days,  and  calls  the  seventh  day  the  Sabbath,  telling 
them  that  God  had  given  them  tlie  Sabbath — speak- 
ing of  it  as  a  time  before  established;  for  as  six 
days  were  before,  so  also  was  there  the  seventh  day, 
the  Sabbath ;  and  when  some  did  break  it,  the  Lord 
said,  "  How  long  refuse  ye  to  keep  my  command- 
ments and  my  laws?"  He  would  not  have  said, 
How  long,  for  the  breach  only  of  the  first  Sab- 
bath, if  they  had  not  done  so  long  before  in  their 
Egyptian  slavery;  therefore  the  seventh  day  was 
the  Sabbath  long  before  this  time  of  gathering  the 
manna. 

St.  Paul,  also,  speaking  of  a  rest,  or  keeping  of 
a  Sabbath  for  the  people  of  God,  (Heb.  4:    9,) 


32  THE  ORIGIN  OF 

fetclietli  from  the  original  God's  own  rest  on  the 
seventh  day,  even  from  the  creation. 

The  learned  translators  of  our  English  Bible  are 
also  of  this  judgment,  or  at  least  they  who  have 
prefixed  the  contents  to  the  second  chapter  of  Gen- 
esis, in  which  are  these  words,  "the  first  Sabbath." 

Dr.  Rivet  on  the  fourth  commandment  quotes  to 
this  purpose  the  opinion  of  many  famous  Protest- 
ant divines — Luther,  Zuinglius,  Calvin,  Peter  Mar- 
tyr, Bullinger,  Zanchius,  Urfinus,  and  others,  to  the 
number  of  thirty. 

The  keeping  holy  of  the  Sabbath  day  is  called 
"keeping  God's  law  before  the  law  at  Sinai,  (Ex.  16: 
4,)  for  the  law  in  this  place  is  the  keeping  of  the 
seventh  day  holy.  For  what  law  in  all  the  16th 
chapter  was  there  else,  by  wdiich  God  would  try  his 
people  concerning  the  keeping  thereof,  but  the 
keeping  holy  the  Sabbath  1  The  main  scope  of  the 
chapter  touching  their  manna,  in  gathering  it  the 
sixth  day,  in  God's  preserving  it  from  worms  and 
stinking,  in  God's  not  raining  it  on  the  seventh  day, 
all  tended  to  the  keeping  of  the  Sabbath  to  the 
Lord  which  is  mentioned  in  verse  4. 

Some  went  out  to  gather  manna  on  that  day,  and 
the  Lord  rebuked  the  people  for  refusing  of  a  long 
time  to  keep  his  commandments  and  laws,  saying, 
How  long  refuse  ye  to  keep  my  commandments  and 
my  laws'?  In  which  words  we  may  observe  these 
things — Firstly,  that  the  people  had  commandments 
and  laws  before  this  time,  and  so  before  the  giving 
of  the  law  at  Sinai.  Secondly,  that  the  laws  and 
comma,ndments  were  not  men's,  as  the  first-day 
Sabbath  is,  but  God's;  for  he  acknowledges  them 
for  his  own,  saying,  "My  commandments  and 
my  laws."  Thirdly,  in  these  words  is  compre- 
hended the  rest  of  the  holy  Sabbath  to  the  Lord, 


THE    SABBATH   LAW.  33 

(of  which  lie  makes  mention  in  the  23d,  25th, 
and  26th  verses,  before  the  reproof  of  the  l3reach 
thereof  in  the  2Sth  verse;)  for  some  going  out  to 
gather  manna  on  this  day,  he  taxeth  them  with  re- 
fusing to  keep  his  commandments  and  laws,  which 
he  would  not  have  done  if  the  seventh  day,  an  holy 
Sabbath,  had  been  none  of  them.  Fourthly,  that 
these  his  commandments  and  laws  they  had  known, 
and  had  not  kept  them  for  a  long  time  before ;  for 
the  true  worship  of  God  was  corrupted  by  idolatry 
in  their  Egyptian  slavery.  For  God  saith,  How 
long  refuse  ye  to  keep  my  laws  ? — understanding 
among  them  the  commandment  of  the  Sabbath, 
which  being  recorded  among  the  commandments, 
it  must  needs  be  of  a  binding  power. 

If  Mr.  Ward  asks  me  where  we  before  this  time 
find  mention  of  any  such  commandments  and  laws'? 
— I  answer,  in  Gen.  26 :  5,  which  Abraham  kept, 
and  also  taught  his  household  to  keep.  Gen.  18: 
19.  And  if  you  would  know  how  they  learned 
them,  the  text  there  tells  you  that  it  was  from  God's 
voice,  which  voice  Abraham  obeyed ;  for  God  never 
suffered  his  people  to  live  by  the  WTitten  law  in 
man's  nature,  without  his  positive  laws,  after  the 
fall.  Yea,  he  gave  positive  laws  to  Adam  before, 
in  the  state  of  innocency,  even  the  ten  command- 
ments. 

God  himself,  in  publishing  the  law  of  the  Sab- 
bath in  Ex.  20 :  8,  doth  there,  as  Moses  doth  here 
in  Gen.  2:  2,  3,  couple  together  the  same  things, 
his  finishing  of  his  work  in  six  days,  with  his  rest- 
ing on  the  seventh  day,  and  then  his  blessing  the 
Sabbath  day  and  hallowing  it;  thus  clearly  verify- 
ing the  truth  of  Moses'  narration  by  his  joining 
the  things  together,  and  then  by  speaking  also 
of  all  these  his  acts  as  then  done  in  the  time  per- 
fectly past  in  the   words  "made,"  "rested,"  "bless- 


34  THE    ORIGIN    OF 

ed  and  sanctified."  Therefore  Mr.  Ward  may  see 
God  himself,  if  he  will  see,  teaching  him  to  under- 
stand Moses  plainly,  and  that  without  any  anticipa- 
tion or  distinction  of  a  new  seventh-day  Sabbath. 

But  concerning  the  seventh  day,  God's  exempla- 
ry rest  is  not  only  mentioned  by  Moses,  but  God's 
blessing  and  sanctifying  of  the  day;  which  was  not 
for  himself,  but  for  man's  good.  Mark  2  :  27.  If 
60,  then  Adam  must  needs  know  thus  much,  else 
God's  blessing  and  sanctifying  the  day  for  Adam 
and  his  posterity  had  been  of  none  effect.  Yea,  on 
all  hands,  the  words  are  acknowledged  to  be  the 
words  of  an  institution.  Now  every  institution  of 
God  is  made  manifest  without  delay  to  them  whom 
it  concemeth ;  no  instance  can  be  given  to  the  con- 
trary. But  I  have  proved  the  institution  to  have 
been  upon  God's  rest,  after  the  six  days  work;  and 
therefore  was  it  forthwith  known  unto  Adam  to  be 
an  institution  of  the  Sabbath,  for  which  cause  he 
knew  himself  bound  to  oberve  it,  as  no  doubt  but 
he  and  the  patriarchs  did. 

Now  the  words  thus  clearly  opened,  must  needs 
prove  the  command  for  the  Sabbath.  Firstly,  here 
is  a  Sabbath  made,  which  Christ  said  was  for  man. 
Mark  2  :  27.  Secondly,  here  is  God's  own  example 
for  man's  imitation,  as  is  evident  from  Ex.  20,  by 
God's  urging  his  own  example  for  resting  on  the 
seventh-day  Sabbath.  Thirdly,  here  are  his  words 
of  institution,  in  that  it  is  said,  God  "blessed  it, 
and  sanctified  it;"  that  is,  he  ordained  it  to  be  an 
holy  Sabbath  unto  the  Lord,  to  be  dedicated  to  his 
own  service,  as  Moses  informeth  us,  before  the  lavr 
was  promulgated.  Ex.  16:  23.  Fourthly,  and  last- 
ly, he  cofirmeth  it  with  a  reason  in  the  end  of  the 
third  verse  of  Gen.  2.  Therefore  it  is  the  Lord's 
command  for  the  seventh  day  to  be  his  Sabbath,  and 
to  be   kept  holy  of   us,  as  this  commandment  also 


THE  SABBATH  LAW.  35 

teacheth  and  appointeth  us  to  do ;  and  not  the  first 
day,  which  the  Lord  never  did  command  us  to  keep 
for  a  Sabbath  weekly. 

It  is  most  clear,  that  God  gave  to  holy  men  of  old 
his  laws  to  live  by,  his  commandments  and  statutes, 
and  that  they  observe  them;  so  it  is  said  of  Abra- 
ham, the  prime  father  of  the  faithful,  who  also  was 
acquainted  with  God's  commandments.  Gen.  26 : 
5.  The  godly  were  followers  of  good  things,  walk- 
ing in  the  commandments  of  God.  Gen.  5 :  22, 
and  6 :  9.  They  were  vexed  at  the  sinful  courses 
of  men.  2  Peter  2  :  8,  9.  They  preached  against 
their  impieties.  Jude  14,  1  Peter  3:  20.  And 
God  threatened  destruction  to  the  wicked  therefor. 
Gen.  6 :  3,  7.  And  accordingly  did  destroy  them. 
Gen.  7 :  19.  Now  if  God  gave  his  laws,  and  re- 
proved sin,  and  punished  sin,  would  he  amongst 
these  his  laws,  (the  particulars  whereof  are  not 
mentioned,)  suffer  his  first  institution,  his  blessed 
and  sanctified  seventh-day  Sabbath,  to  be  unthought- 
of  and  neglected]  May  we  reasonably  think,  that 
the  godly  having  received  other  laws,  and  observed 
and  kept  them,  (as  the  text  saith  they  did,)  would 
carelessly  omit  to  observe  his  command  of  the  Sab- 
bath amongst  those  his  laws,  statutes  and  command- 
ments 1 

The  fourth  commandment,  and  all  words  thereto 
added,  tell  us  that  the  Sabbath  day  was  kept  holy 
before  the  time  that  it  was  written  on  the  tables  of 
stone. 

The  prefixed  memento  telleth  us  so  much,  that 
it  was  before  observed ;  and  God  would  still  have 
it  carefully  kept,  for  the  memento  hath  respect  unto 
the  time  past,  saith  Richard  Bernard,  in  his  treatise 
of  the  Sabbath. 

The  manner  of  the  delivery  of  this  command 
ment  may  persuade  us  to  this;  for  the  other  com- 


36  THE    ORIGIN    OF 

mandments  are  uttered  imperatively,  so  as  they  en- 
force the  duty;  as  in  the  fifth  commandment,  "Hon- 
or thy  father  and  thy  mother,"  the  duty  charged  is 
honor;  and  in  the  other  commandments  the  sin  is 
forbidden,  as,  "  Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of  the 
Lord  thy  God  in  vain,"  "  Thou  shalt  do  no  murder," 
"  Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery,"  and  so  of  the 
rest.  .  But  now  in  the  fourth  commandment  the 
Lord  falleth  not  upon  the  main  of  the  precept;  as 
to  say,  Keep  holy  the  Sabbath  day.  But  the  im- 
perative speech  is  laid  upon  the  word  rcmemher, 
saying,  Reme7nhe7'  the  Sahhath  day  to  kcej)  it  holy ; 
quite  otherwise  than  in  any  other  of  the  command- 
ments. The  reason  hereof  is,  that  he  had  before 
commanded  it,  and  it  had  been  before  observed  of 
the  Israelites,  as  in  the  next  reason  is  clearly  prov- 
ed; therefore  he  saith  not.  Keep  holy  the  Sabbath 
as  now  instituted,  but  thus.  Remember  the  Sabbath 
day,  to  keep  it  holy; — as  if  he  had  said,  As  it  hath 
been  before  observed  of  you,  so  it  is  still  to  be  kept 
holy. 

The  principal  words  annexed  to  the  command- 
ment tell  us  of  no  new  seventh-day  Sabbath  then 
imposed;  but  simply  of  what  was  already  well 
known  and  made  use  of,  as  we  may  see ;  firstly,  six 
days  they  were  allowed  for  labor.  Ex.  16:  4,  5. 
Secondly,  the  seventh  day  was  to  be  the  Sabbath; 
this  is  also  in  plain  words.  Ex.  16 :  23,  26.  Third- 
ly, it  was  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord  their  God,  whom 
they  knew  from  Abraham's  days.  Gen.  17 :  7. 
Fourthly,  that  in  it  they  should  do  no  manner  of 
work ;  this  they  were  forewarned  of,  and  some 
who  were  regardless  of  it  were  reproved.  Ex.  16: 
27,  29.  Fifthly,  that  in  six  days  God  made  heaven 
and  earth ;  and  this  was  evident  of  old  time  unto 
the  fathers.  Gen.  24:  3,  7.  Lastly,  that  "God 
rested  the  seventh  day,  blessed  and  sanctified  it  for 


THE  SABBATH  LAW.  37 

the  Sabbath,"  which  are  God's  own  words  speaking 
of  the  institution.  So  that  we  may  see  it  clear  from 
the  fourth  commandment,  and  the  words  thereto 
annexed,  that  this  law  was  known  and  practiced 
before  it  was  given  in  Horeb.  Though  Mr.  Ward 
is  pleased  to  say  that  it  cannot  be  proved  that  it 
was  the  same  seventh  day  from  the  creation,  I  am 
sure  that  he  cannot  prove  it  was  any  oilier  seventh- 
day  Sabbath  than  what  was  from  the  creation. 

The  holy  men  of  God  before  the  law  knew  the 
computation  of  time,  and  reckoned  by  years.  Gen. 
5:  7,  11;  14:  4.  They  knew  also  the  space  of  a 
month,  (Gen.  29  :  14 ;  Ex.  2 :  2,)  and  could  reckon  the 
months,  knowing  which  was  the  first  month,  which 
the  second,  the  third,  &c.  Gen.  8:  13, 14;  Ex.  12: 
1,  19:  1.  They  moreover  obsen'ed  weeks,  (Gen. 
29  :  27,  28,)  and  knew  how  many  days  made  a  week, 
else  how  could  Laban  say,  "  Fulfill  her  week,"  or 
Jacob  understand  what  he  meant  by  it ;  but  it  is 
said  he  fulfilled  her  week,  which  was  seven  days ; 
which  made  the  week  as  they  had  it  from  God,  in 
working  six  days  and  resting  the  seventh.  All  do 
reckon  seven  days  for  a  week,  and  so  it  is  taken  in 
the  Scripture  where  a  week  or  weeks  are  mention- 
ed. Lev.  12:  5;  Dan.  9 :  27;  10:  3;  Luke  18:  12. 
Now^  as  they  knew  of  weeks  and  took  to  themselves 
six  days  of  the  week  for  work,  from  God's  example, 
as  he  allowed  them,  may  it  be  in  reason  thought 
otherwise  but  that  they  gave  God  the  seventh  day 
according  to  his  own  institution  ? 

The  much  observing  of  the  number  seven  and 
seventh  may  somewhat  move  us  thereto,  else  why 
did  God  himself  so  observe  it,  saith  Richard  Ber- 
nard in  his  treatise  of  the  Sabbath.  Firstly,  in  his 
resting  upon  the  seventh  day  at  the  beginning. 
Gen.  2  :  2,  3.  Secondly,  in  his  distinction  of  beasts 
and  fowls,  commanding  Noah  to  observe  the  num- 
4 


38  THE    ORIGIN    OF 

ber  seven  in  taking  unto  him  the  clean.  Gen.  7 : 
2,  3.  Thirdly,  in  ordering  that  the  ark,  by  the 
hand  of  his  Providence,  as  a  type  of  the  church, 
should  rest  in  the  seventh  month  on  the  mountains 
of  Ararat,  (Gen.  8  :  4,)  and  that  the  earth  should 
be  dried  on  the  seventh  day  of  the  second  month, 
falling  out  upon  no  other  number  but  upon  the 
number  seven.  I  say  by  the  guidance  of  God's 
Providence,  to  teach  the  godly  that  as  he  rested  the 
seventh-day  Sabbath,  so  the  ark,  the  type  of  the 
church,  should  rest  on  the  seventh  day ;  and  as  he 
ended  his  work  of  creation  and  blessed  the  seventh 
day,  so  God  ended  his  work  of  judgment  upon 
a  sinful  world  on  the  seventh  day,  on  which  the 
earth  was  dried — which  seventh  day  might  very 
likely  be  the  seventh-day  Sabbath ;  what  may  be 
said  to  the  contrary  I  know  not,  for  the  Sabbath 
might  then,  as  it  doth  now  sometimes,  fall  upon  the 
seventeenth  day  of  one  month,  and  on  the  twenty- 
seventh  day  of  another  month.  Fourthly,  in  order- 
ing the  fast  of  passover  to  be  upon  the  seventh  day, 
(Ex.  12  :  3,  6,)  for  the  fourteenth  day  at  even  was 
the  seventh  day  ;  for  if  we  reckon  from  the  first  day 
of  the  month  to  the  tenth,  and  the  keeping  up  of 
the  lamb  till  the  fourteenth  day,  it  must  be  the  third 
seventh  day  of  the  month,  which  Jews  began  at 
evening  and  continued  to  the  evening.  Fifthly,  in 
the  Lord's  appointing  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread 
to  consist  of  the  number  of  seven  days,  and  the 
seventh  day  to  be  an  holy  convocation,  and  a  feast 
unto  the  Lord.  Ex.  12  :  15,  16  ;  13  :  6.  Sixthly, 
in  God's  not  raining  manna  on  the  seventh  day,  be- 
cause he  would  have  none  gathered  on  that  day. 
All  these  things  put  together  do  show,  that  God  did 
much  extol  the  seventh  day  before  his  people  and 
those  holy  patriarchs,  to  stir  them  up  to  observe  the 
seventh-day  Sabbath.    Seventhly,  to  add  to  all  these 


THE    SABBATH   LAW.  39 

the  Lord's  speaking  to  Noah  of  the  number  of  seven 
days,  to  bring  in  the  flood,  and  open  the  windows 
of  heaven,  and  break  up  the  fountains  of  the  great 
deep,  on  the  seventeenth  day  of  the  second  month, 
(Gen.  7  :  11,)  and  in  bringing  the  flood  upon  the 
old  world  upon  the  seventh  day,  (Gen.  7  :  10,)  as 
the  learned  translators  have  it  in  the  margin,  and 
Tremelius  gives  it  from  the  Hebrew,  that  hereby, 
as  among  other  wickednesses  of  the  times,  God 
might  show  his  wrath  against  those  evil  men  for 
profanation  of  the  Sabbath  and  contempt  of  his 
holy  institution.  Here  I  might  annex  the  patriarch 
Noah's  observation  of  the  number  seven  again  and 
again  in  sending  out  the  dove,  (Gen.  8:  10,  12;) 
and  likewise  after  coming  out  of  the  ark,  in  his 
sacrificing  an  acceptable  offering  to  God  on  the 
twenty-seventh  day  of  the  month  in  which  he  came 
forth,  (Gen.  8  :  14,  20  ;)  which  might  have  been  the 
observation  of  the  first  Sabbath  in  the  new  world, 
and  so  let  me  conceive  it  until  somebody  can  show 
me  plainly  to  the  contrary.  However  it  was,  we 
see  that  the  number  of  seven  was  observed  by  him, 
as  being  mindful  of  the  seventh  day  of  God's  resting, 
and  sanctifying  it  for  a  Sabbath.  For  I  would  fain 
know,  saith  Mr.  Bernard,  why  the  number  seven 
should  be  so  observed  of  God  and  holy  men,  except 
it  were  to  remind  them  of  God's  seventh  day,  the 
first  mentioning  of  the  seventh,  which  God  blessed 
and  sanctified. 

To  make  all  sure,  Moses  telleth  us  in  plain  words, 
that  the  seventh-day  Sabbath  was  kept,  (Ex.  16,)  and 
that  the  people  rested  on  the  seventh  day,  which 
he  saith  was  the  rest  of  the  holy  Sabbath  unto  the 
Lord.  This  text  is  so  clear,  that  it  cannot  be  deni- 
ed, except  one  dare  say  Moses  lied.  Yet  Mr.  Ward 
has  endeavored  to  darken  the  truth,  and  to  becloud 
the  antiquity  of  the  Sabbath  in  the  former  institu- 


40  THE  ORIGIN  OF 

tion  and  use  thereof,  by  saying,  without  any  ground 
of  reason,  that  it  cannot  be  proved  it  was  the  sev- 
enth day  from  the  creation. 

When  it  can  be  shown  me,  that  in  Scripture  ac- 
count any  day  of  the  week,  save  the  last,  was  call- 
ed the  seventh  day,  then  may  I  be  brought,  to  think 
that  the  fourth  commandment  may  be  understood 
of  some  other  seventh  day  besides  the  day  called 
Saturday,  and  not  till  then.  Is  it  not  undeniable, 
that  the  days  of  the  world  from  the  creation  hither- 
to have  been  counted  by  sevens  and  weeks  1  Now 
tell  me,  Mr.  Ward,  how  can  any  day  in  seven  be 
the  seventh,  but  one,  and  that  one  the  last  of  the 
seven,  as  Saturday  is?  Now  since  there  cannot  be 
two  seventh  days  in  a  week,  or  in  seven  days,  it  is  a 
frivolous  interpretation  to  read  the  fourth  command- 
ment a  seventh  day,  intimating  thereby  that  there 
might  be  other  seventh  days  in  seven  days,  or  in  a 
week,  than  one.  So  then,  if  you  will  go  to  divine  ac- 
count in  Scripture,  or  to  human  account  kept  by  tra- 
dition, both  of  those  acknowledge  but  one  seventh 
day;  for  the  first  day  is  so  far  from  being  a  seventh  or 
tJie  seventh  day,  that  by  the  verdict  of  all  the  evan- 
gelists it  is  called  the  first  day  of  the  week  ;  and  by 
all  the  wits  Mr.  Ward  has  he  cannot  make  it  a  sev- 
enth day  nor  the  seventh  day. 

The  use  of  this  is  to  discover  the  error  of  our 
times,  which  will  apply  the  fourth  commandment  to 
the  first  day  of  the  week,  which  is  appointed  to  the 
seventh  day  of  the  week  by  God  the  law-giver. 

In  refutation  of  those  who  say,  it  matters  not,  if 
they  do  but  give  God  a  day,  that  is,  if  they  give 
God  a  Sabbath,  whether  it  be  this  or  that  day,  I 
answer,  Why  then  did  God  command  the  very  day 
wherein  he  would  be  served,  by  these  marks  :  First, 
he  telleth  you  it  is  the  Sabbath  day.     Second,  that 


THE  SABBATH  LAW.  41 

it  is  the  seventh  day  whereon  himself  rested,  and 
therefore  to  keep  another  day  is  to  make  holy  things 
common,  and  common  things  holy,  and  to  cross  God 
as  Jonas  did.  God  chooseth  out  the  seventh  day 
from  all  the  other  days,  because  in  it  he  had  rested 
from  all  his  work.  Gen.  2:  3;  Ex.20:  11.  Be- 
sides, the  reason  why  God  hallowed  the  seventh 
day  was,  because  in  it  he  had  rested,  which  reason 
cannot  be  true  of  any  day  of  the  seven,  save  the 
seventh  day,  which  the  heathens  called  Saturday. 

I  shall  add  one  reason  more  :  Christ  said,  "  The 
Sabbath  was  made  for  man,"  (Mark  2:  27;)  that  is, 
the  Sabbath,  when  it  was  made,  as  at  the  creation 
it  was,  then  it  was  made  for  the  good  and  benefit 
of  man,  to  rest  and  refresh  his  weary  body  after  six 
days'  labor,  and  for  a  set  time  to  worship  God,  and 
to  con^mplate  divine  things.  And  shall  we  imagine 
that  no  man  had  good  and  benefit  by  keeping  it, 
until  two  thousand  four  hundred  and  fifty  years  after, 
in  Moses' time?  God  makes  nothing  in  vain ;  and 
shall  we  think  he  made  the  Sabbath  at  the  creation 
in  vain] 

Thus  I  have  maintained — First,  the  antiquity  of 
the  Sabbath,  and  that  it  is  as  old  as  the  world. 
Second,  that  all  men,  not  only  Jews  but  also  Gen- 
tiles, so  soon  as  they  come  to  know  the  true  God, 
and  that  he  at  the  creation  sanctified  the  seventh 
day  for  man,  are  bound  to  keep  holy  the  seventh 
day  for  the  Sabbath. 
4* 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Sabbath  institxited  not  for  the  Jews  only,  but  for  mankind 
at  large. 

Mr.  Ward's  grand  odium  against  the  seventh-day 
Sabbath  is,  that  it  was  the  Jews'  Sabbath.  In 
Scripture  it  is  called  God's  Sabbath,  and  no  where 
called  the  Jews'  Sabbath  that  I  know  of;  but  this 
I  know,  that  as  it  was  instituted  before  there  was 
any  distinction  either  of  Jew  or  Gentile,  so  it  re- 
mains in  full  force  to  the  people  of  God  forever ; 
and  so  do  all  the  other  nine  commandments,  which 
were  given  to  the  Jews.  Why  do  you  not  therefore 
call  them  the  Jews'  commandments,  as  well^as  the 
seventh  day  the  Jews'  Sabbath  1  The  seventh  day 
is  God's  Sabbath,  and  so  called  by  God  himself. 
Ex.20:  10.  Why  then  do  you  call  it  the  Jews' 
Sabbath]  If  you  slight  the  seventh-day  Sabbath, 
you  slight  God's  Sabbath,  call  it  what  you  will.  You 
say,  the  Sabbath  was  given  to  the  Jews.  I  say,  so 
was  the  new  covenant  of  grace,  (Jer.  31 :  31 ;  Heb. 
8:  8,)  and  yet  you  reject  it  not.  The  Gospel,  also, 
was  given  to  the  Jews  first,  having  been  preached 
unto  Abraham,  (Gal.  3 :  8,)  and  in  Christ's  time  it 
was  preached  to  the  Jews  before  the  Gentiles. 
Matt.  10:  5 — 7;  Acts  13:  6.  And  will  you  reject 
the  Gospel  because  it  was  first  given  to  the  Jews  ] 
Why  do  you  then  reject  the  Sabbath  because  it  was 
given  to  the  Jews?  Is  the  fourth  commandment  for 
the  Sabbath  made  more  odious  because  it  was  given 
to  the  Jews  ]  You  may  even  cast  off  all  the  command- 
ments upon  the  same  account,  for  the  whole  law  was 
given  to  the  Jews ;  the  holy  Scriptures  were  given  to 
the  Jews.      They  received  them   to  give  unto  us. 


THE  SABBATH  FOR  ALL  MANKIND.        43 

These  lively  oracles  are  God's  moral  laws,  which  he 
committed  to  them ;  and  as  they  received  them  from 
God,  so  they  gave  them  unto  us ;  and  therefore  see 
that  you  keep  them  as  they  gave  them,  and  amongst 
the  rest,  the  express  seventh-day  Sabbath,  and  beware 
of  slighting  it  because  it  was  given  to  the  Jews. 
Let  but  this  scoff  drive  you  to  disdain  what  was 
given  to  the  Jews,  and  so  living  and  dying  you  will 
hardly  be  saved;  for  the  Scriptures,  which  are  able 
through  faith  in  Christ  to  make  one  wise  unto  sal- 
vation, were  given  to  the  Jews;  our  Lord  Jesus 
himself  was  a  Jew,  was  sent  to  the  Jews,  and  will 
come  again  to  make  them  a  glorious  people. 

I  perceive  that  it  is  a  great  stumbling-block  to  the 
Jews'  believing  Christ  to  be  the  Messiah,  because 
those  they  call  Christians  do  violate  the  Sabbath. 
For,  say  they,  if  Christ  was  not  a  Sabbath-breaker, 
why  are  Christians  1 — and  if  Christ  was  a  Sabbath- 
breaker,  then  he  was  a  sinner;  and  if  a  sinner, 
what  benefit  can  we  expect  by  the  death  of  an  evil- 
doer] And  thus  you  may  see  what  evil  consequence 
follows  the  non-observance  of  the  Lord's  holy  sev- 
enth-day Sabbath.  If  the  offending  of  one  of  the 
little  ones  which  believe  deserves  so  great  punish- 
ment, what  will  be  the  doom  of  Sabbath-breakers, 
after  warning,  whose  weekly  disobedience  so  much 
dishonors  Christ,  and  stumbles  all  the  tribes  of  Is- 
rael 1  How  vain  are  petitions  for  Israel's  conver- 
sion from  those  whose  practice  so  much  obstructs 
the  glorious  work!  "Cast  ye  up,  cast  ye  up,  pre- 
pare the  way,  take  up  the  stumbling-blocks  out  of 
the  way  of  my  people.  Isa.  5>:  14.  Is  it  possible 
that  ever  that  beloved  people  should  receive  the 
Messiah,  while  they  see  Christians  disobedient  to 
God's  royal  commands? 

It  is  high  time  wholly  to  depart  from  Popish  pol- 
lutions, and  to  fulfill  part  of  that  prophecy  recorded 


44  THE  SABBATH  INSTITUTED 

in  Zach.  8 :  23,  in  taking  hold  on  the  skirts  of  the 
Jews,  as  to  observe  all  their  moral  laws  with  de- 
light. Let  not  the  unscriptural  odium  of  a  Jewish 
Sabbath  startle  us,  any  more  than  a  Jewish  Saviour; 
but  let  us  put  on  Ruth's  resolution  in  meeting  the 
Jews,  saying,  Thy  Scriptures  shall  be  my  Script- 
ures, thy  promises  shall  be  my  portion,  thy  salva- 
tion shall  be  my  expectation,  thy  seventh  day  shall 
be  my  Sabbath,  thy  Messiah  shall  be  my  Saviour, 
and  thy  God  my  God.  Thus  shall  we  take  up  the 
stumbling-blocks  hindering  the  return  of  them  who 
can  neither  brook  Papal  abominations  in  the  breach 
of  God's  second  commandment,  nor  Protestant 
weekly  profanation  of  the  Sabbath.  Disobedience 
to  the  fourth  commandment  is  most  dreadful  in 
such  as  continue  Sabbath-breakers  for  earthly  ad- 
vantage, after  some  light  of  God's  Sabbath  hath 
broken  in  upon  their  souls,  so  that  they  have  no- 
thing to  say  against  it,  and  yet,  through  the  world's 
snares,  and  love  of  relations,  dare  continue  to  act 
against  it,  wallowing  week  after  week  in  Sabbath- 
pollution,  till  the  just  judgments  of  God  at  last 
leave  them,  through  custom  of  sin,  to  a  seared  con- 
science. "  He  sheweth  his  word  unto  Jacob,  his 
statutes  and  his  judgments  unto  Israel;  he  hath  not 
dealt  so  with  any  nation,  and  as  for  his  judgments 
they  have  not  known  them."  This  Scripture  Mr. 
Ward  urged  in  opposition  to  the  seventh-day  Sab- 
bath, that  it  did  not  concern  other  nations.  But 
the  weakness  thereof  may  easily  be  discerned  if 
expressions  of  like  import  in  Scripture  be  compar- 
ed and  considered.  «  God  saith  to  Israel,  in  Amos 
'3:2,  "You  only  have  I  known  of  all  the  families 
of  the  earth  ;  therefore  will  I  punish  you  for  all 
your  iniquities."  Doth  it  therefore  follow,  that  God 
did  not  know,  nor  yet  would  punish,  any  other  na- 
tion or  people  but  Israel  for  their  iniquities  ?     This 


FOR  MANKIND  AT   LARGE.  45 

interpretation  supposeth  the  most  holy  and  wise  God 
to  give  a  dispensation  to  the  heathen  world,  which 
were  the  greater  part  of  his  offspring,  to  live  in  the 
omission  and  commission  of  those  things  w^hich 
were  not  lawful  for  his  Israel  to  do ;  which  not  only 
impeacheth  the  perfection  of  his  nature,  but  direct- 
ly opposeth  the  clear  Scripture,  which  is  to  set 
forth  the  superabounding  goodness  of  God  unto  his 
people.  For  it  supposes  him  to  have  tied  them  to 
obedience  to  his  laws,  from  which  he  exempted 
other  nations,  and  so  laid  them  under  at  least  a 
greater  liableness  of  transgression,  and  consequent- 
ly of  punishment  from  his  divine  hand  of  justice. 
But  the  clear  intent  of  the  word  is,  that  as  God 
eminently,  with  favor,  knew  his  people,  so  would  he 
eminently  punish  them  for  their  iniquities.  May 
we  not  as  safely  conclude  that  none  but  the  Jews 
had  any  saving  benefit  by  the  coming  of  Christ,  be- 
cause he  said,  in  Matt.  15:  24,  "He  was  not  sent 
but  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  IsraeH"  But 
thus  to  interpret  these  Scriptures  would  be  a  man- 
ifest abuse  of  them.  So  it  is  no  less  absurd  to  infer 
from  the  text  premised,  that  the  laws  God  gave  to 
Israel  did  not  concern  the  other  nations.  Are  no 
other  nations  or  people  bound  to  believe  on  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  but  the  people  of  Israel]  So  in 
the  place  under  consideration,  the  Lord  had  not  so 
eminently  shown  and  made  known  his  statutes  to 
any  other  nation.  Christ  was  in  the  first  jplace,  or 
hy  way  of  eminence,  sent  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the 
house  of  Israel.  For  it  was  evident  that  the  people 
of  Israel,  to  whom  Christ  was  sent,  were  the  only 
church  of  God  in  the  world,  and  consequently  that 
it  was  the  duty  of  all  men  to  join  themselves  to 
this  church  of  God,  and  conform  to  the  laws  there- 
of, as  will  appear  on  many  considerations.  First, 
because  the  church  of  God  is  said  to  be  the  liffht 


46  THE  SABRATH  INSTITUTED 

of  the  world,  which  denotes  that  the  rest  of  the 
world  should  be  ruled  and  guided  thereby.  Second, 
the  church  is  declared  to  be  the  pillar  and  ground 
of  the  truth ;  and  if  so,  ought  not  all  men  to  build 
upon  that  foundation '?  Third,  nothing  is  more  plain, 
from  Isa.  56 :  3 — 6,  than  that  God  was  earnestly 
desirous  that  the  heathen  would  join  themselves  to 
the  church  of  Israel,  and  keep  their  laws,  and  par- 
ticularly that  of  the  seventh-day  Sabbath,  which 
doth  strongly  show  that  it  was  his  sovereign  will 
and  pleasure  that  they  should.  Nothing  is  more 
rational  than  to  conclude,  that  whatsoever  our  great 
Creator  intimates  in  the  least  to  be  his  will  and 
pleasure  for  any  of  his  creatures  to  do,  it  must 
needs  be  their  most  bounden  duty  cheerfully  and 
diligently  to  do.  Can  any  suppose  that  to  please 
God  is  not  the  duty  of  all  men  1  It  is  as  apparent  as 
light  at  noon-day,  that  the  seventh-day  Sabbath,  and 
all  the  laws  of  Israel,  concerned  mankind  univer- 
sally. Fourth,  the  Scripture  declares  that  the  same 
law  which  obliged  the  Jews  did  likewise  oblige  the 
Gentiles,  or,  which  is  the  same,  there  was  but  one 
law  for  the  home-born  and  for  the  stranger.  Ex. 
12:  19,49;  Lev.  17 :  8—15;  Num.9:  14;  Josh. 
8:  33—35;  Num.15:  14—16,  29;  Lev.  24:  22. 
"  Ye  shall  have  one  manner  of  law  as  well  for  the 
stranger  as  for  one  of  your  own  country;"  therefore 
the  seventh-day  Sabbath  is  the  duty  of  the  stranger 
as  well  as  any  other  command  of  God. 

That  the  Jews'  law  concerned  the  Gentiles  is 
manifest,  in  that  there  was  to  be  but  one  law  for  the 
stranger  as  for  the  home-born.  As  Israel  were  to 
afflict  their  souls  on  the  tenth  day  of  the  seventh 
month,  so  was  the  stranger  commanded  to  do.  Lev. 
16 :  29.  As  they  were  to  perform  their  offerings, 
so  was  the  stranger  to  do.  Num.  15:  16,  29.  As 
death  was  appointed  for  punishment  of  blasphemers 


FOR  MANKIND  AT   LARGE.  47 

in  Israel,  so  it  was  for  the  stranger,  and  inflicted  on 
the  son  of  the  Egyptian.  Therefore  one  law  com- 
manded the  stranger  and  the  home-born.  Lev 
24:  16,  22.  And  if  one  law  was  for  the  stranger 
and  the  home-born  in  Israel,  so  it  was  for  the 
stranger  elsewhere. 

It  is  plain  that  the  laws  of  the  Jews  concerned 
the  rest  of  the  world,  because  the  rest  of  the  world 
were  equally  concerned  in  the  benefit  of  Christ's 
death ;  and  Christ  came  to  redeem  such  only  as 
were  under  the  law,  and  so  under  the  curse.  Gal. 
3  :  13.  And  if  the  law,  either  ceremonial  or  moral, 
or  both,  was  a  school-master  to  lead  to  Christ,  can 
we  think  God  would  deny  the  Gentiles  the  benefit 
of  such  a  teacher,  who  denied  them  not  the  bene- 
fit of  his  Son's  blood  1  Surely  those  who  do  so  are 
not  as  good  logicians  as  the  Apostle  Paul,  who 
argues  thus,  "  He  that  spared  not  his  own  son,  but 
freely  delivered  him  up  for  us  all,  how  shall  he  not 
with  him  also  freely  give  us  all  things."  Rom.  8 : 
32.  Surely  that  God  who  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons, but  loved  the  stranger  as  the  home-born, 
(Deut.  10:  12,  18,)  would  never  deny  them  any 
necessary  advantage  to  complete  their  salvation. 

If  the  Gentiles  were  unconcerned  in  the  Jews' 
laws,  by  what  rule  should  they  know  their  duty  to 
God  1  Is  it  therefore  less  the  duty  of  the  Gentiles 
to  keep  the  seventh  day  for  the  Sabbath,  because 
it  was  written  to  the  Jews  ]  Then  the  whole  of  the 
Old  Testament,  by  the  same  rule,  may  be  rejected 
by  the  Gentiles  as  not  belonging  to  them ;  and  the 
four  evangelists  of  the  New  in  like  manner;  the 
epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  and  that  of  James,  those  to 
Timothy,  who  was  a  circumcised  person,  and  sev- 
eral of  the  rest,  may  be  called  in  question  on  the 
same  ground;  yea,  and  even  those  which  were 
directed  to  the  Romans  and  Corinthians,  and  the 


48  THE  SABRATH  INSTITUTED 

urging  or  application  of  duty  thence ;  for  in  all 
those  churches  it  may  be  said  there  were  Jews; 
and  then  what  duties  belonged  peculiarly  to  the 
Christian  Jews,  and  what  to  the  Gentiles,  might  be 
a  great  question.  Or  was  it  because  they  were  not 
given  in  writing  to  the  Gentiles  as  they  were  to  the 
Jews]  If  so,  neither  were  the  laws  in  Lev.  18: 
20,  given  thus  to  the  Gentiles.  Does  it  therefore 
follow  that  they  might  innocetnly  break  those  laws, 
and  commit  incest,  sodomy,  and  the  greatest  abom- 
inations in  the  world] 

The  laws  against  incestuous  marriages,  and  other 
things  mentioned  in  Lev.  18,  concerned  the  Gen- 
tiles as  well  as  the  Jews;  for  the  Gentiles  are  said 
to  defile  themselves  in  all  these  things,  and  it  is  sin 
that  defiles  men.  Therefore  the  Gentiles  sinned  in 
transgressing  those  laws  in  the  said  chapter,  and 
consequently  those  laws  were  their  duty.  And  in 
the  same  chapter  it  is  commanded  not  to  approach 
unto  a  woman  during  her  separation,  which  was 
seven  days  by  the  law.  Can  any  one  think  that 
such  separation  was  the  concernment  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, and  that  the  far  greater  part  of  the  laws  were 
not]  This  then  is  plain,  that  the  laws  in  Lev.  18 
were  the  concernment  of  the  Gentiles,  and  by  the 
same  reason  the  laws  in  chapters  16  and  17  were 
in  like  manner  the  concernment  of  the  Gentiles ; 
for  it  is  certain  that  the  Gentiles  did  defile 
themselves  in  the  matter  of  offerings,  which  it  was 
as  well  their  duty  to  offer  as  it  was  the  duty  of  the 
Jews.  This  is  yet  the  more  confirmed,  if  the  20th 
chapter  be  considered,  wherein  charge  is  given 
against  defiling  God's  sanctuary,  and  commands  to 
keep  all  God's  statutes.  "Ye  shall  therefore  keep 
all  my  statutes,  and  ye  shall  not  walk  in  the  manner 
of  the  nations  which  I  cast  out  before  you  ;  for  they 
committed  all  these   things,  therefore   I   abhorred 


FOR  MANKIND    AT  LARGE.  49 

them,  saith  the  Lord."  Therefore  the  Gentile  na- 
tions sinned  in  not  reverencing  God's  sanctuary, 
and  in  not  keeping  all  his  statutes ;  and  for  it  they 
were  abhorred.  All  God's  statutes  were  therefore 
imposed  upon  the  Gentile  nations,  and  were  not 
of  the  Jews'  concernment  only. 

Because  this  law,  as  hath  been  noted,  was  obliga- 
tory on  Adam  in  his  innocent  state,  which  was 
whilst  he  stood  as  the  whole  world's  representative, 
consequently  all  men  in  him,  or  that  should  pro- 
ceed from  his  loins,  were  under  the  same  obliga- 
tion with  him ;  for  as  the  law  of  the  Sabbath  being 
the  duty  of  all  men,  both  before  and  after  the  fall, 
doth  declare  the  pei'petuity,  so  it  doth  the  univer- 
sality of  it. 

Sacrifice  and  offering  were  Noah's  duty,  and  so 
equal  in  concernment  to  Jews  and  Gentiles.  And 
after  the  church  state  of  the  Jews  was  erected,  we 
find  the  good  Gentiles  generally  proselyting  to  the 
Jews,  and  in  that  capacity  sacrificing,  and  receiving 
encouragement  from  God  in  so  doing.  But  we 
never  find  the  least  encouragement  by  God,  or  ac- 
ceptance from  him,  to  perform  sacrifice  in  any  other 
manner  than  in  union  with  the  Jews.  It  follows 
then,  unless  we  derogate  unto  uncertain  conject- 
ures, nay,  repugnant  conclusions,  to  the  declared 
way  of  God  in  accepting  the  Gentiles'  sacrifices, 
that  it  was  their  duty  to  become  one  with  the  Jews; 
and  in  order  thereto,  to  be  circumcised  and  keep  all 
the  laws  of  Israel,  (Jer.  9 :  25  compared  with  Gal. 
5:  3,)  and  their  duty  to  keep  the  seventh  day  for 
the  Sabbath,  as  it  is  all  men's  duty  now  to  celebrate 
the  Lord's  Supper;  but  they  should  first  by  faith 
and  baptism  be  admitted  into  the  visible  church  of 
Christ.  For  without  doing  so,  there  is  no  ground 
in  Scripture,  in  ordinary  cases,  to  suppose  that  they 
could  othe^^^dse   obtain  favorable   access.     There- 


50  THE  SABBATH  INSTITUTED 

fore  it  appears,  inasmuch  as  sacrifice  was  the  duty 
of  the  Gentiles,  and  as  there  is  no  record  to  war- 
rant the  performance  of  it  but  in  union  with  the 
Jews,  after  their  church  state  was  erected,  that  the 
whole  of  the  Jews'  laws  were  the  Gentiles'  duty. 

The  ceremonial  law  was  a  representative  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  of  his  undertakings,  and  of 
what  was  to  be  accomplished  by  his  coming,  as  Heb. 
9:  10  declares;  and  he  was  equally  the  Saviour 
both  of  the  Jews  and  of  the  Gentiles,  and  his  un- 
dertaking concerned  the  one  as  well  as  the  other. 
Since,  therefore,  those  laws  were,  as  hath  been  said, 
such  a  representation  of  him,  the  Gentiles  were 
equally  concerned  in  point  of  duty  therein;  and 
inasmuch  as  they  were  of  an  instructive  nature  to 
lead  to  Christ,  the  Gentiles  had  equal  necessity  of 
the  instruction,  and  therefore  they  were  of  their 
concernment. 

Solomon  prayed,  (1  Kings  8  :  43,)  "  That  all  the 
people  of  the  earth  might  know  and  fear  God  as 
did  his  people  Israel."  Solomon  was,  without  ques- 
tion, guided  by  the  Spirit  of  God  in  his  prayer;  and 
Israel  was  to  fear  God  in  the  way  of  his  statutes 
and  all  his  ordinances.  Therefore  since  Solomon 
thus  prays,  it  was  the  will  of  God  that  all  nations 
should  observe  the  laws  of  Israel,  and  consequent- 
ly that  of  the  seventh-day  Sabbath.  For  apart  of 
his  petition  is  concerning  the  Gentile  strangers, 
that  God  would  do  according  to  all  he  called  upon 
him  for,  and  for  this  reason,  that  all  people  of  the 
earth  might  know  God  and  fear  him  as  did  his  peo- 
ple Israel.  Now  by  knowing  and  fearing  God  as 
Israel  did,  must  be  intended,  to  know  the  will  and 
ways  of  God,  and  to  walk  therein  as  Israel  did;  to 
know  and  fear  God  in  truth  as  Israel  did.  "  The  fear 
of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom ;  a  good 
understanding  have  all  they  that  do  his  command- 


FOR  MANKIND  AT    LARGE.  51 

ments."  To  this  agree  those  many  passages  of 
Scripture,  which  declare  that  it  was  the  most  ac- 
ceptable will  of  God,  that  all  nations  of  the  earth 
should  serve  and  worship  him  according  to  the  law 
of  his  people  Israel. 

The  law  of  the  seventh-day  Sabbath  is  universal- 
ly obligatory  on  all  mankind,  because  comprehend- 
ed and  contained  in  that  law  of  God  which  is  the 
ten  commandments — a  code  which  binds  all  men,  as 
might  be  demonstrated  by  many  considerations,  but 
this  one  shall  suffice,  viz.,  because  it  is  a  branch 
of  that  law  of  which  the  Apostle  is  treating  in 
Rom.  3 :  19,  concerning  which  he  testifieth  that  it 
stops  every  mouth,  and  brings  the  whole  world 
guilty  before  God ;  which  it  could  never  do,  had 
not  the  whole  world  been  under  its  obligation.  So 
that  if  this  law  stops  every  offender's  mouth,  then 
that  particular  of  it  which  requires  the  observation 
of  the  seventh-day  Sabbath  must,  needs  do  so. 

Among  those  called  Presbyterians,  I  judge  no 
testimony  so  considerable  against  Mr.  Ward  as  that 
of  the  Assembly  of  Divines,  in  their  book  entitled, 
A  Confession  of  Faith;  and  forasmuch  as  those  call- 
ed Independents,  in  their  book  entitled,  A  Declara- 
tion of  the  Faith  and  Order  owned  and  ^practiced  in 
the  Congregational  Churches,  have  given  forth  the 
same  things  almost  word  for  word,  I  shall  but  tran- 
scribe it,  (in  that  I  would  hasten,)  and  it  may  serve 
for  a  discovery  of  the  judgments  of  both  parties. 
It  runs  thus : — 

**  That  God  gave  to  Adam  a  law  as  a  covenant  of  works,  by 
which  he  bound  him  and  all  his  posterity  to  personal,  entire,  ex- 
act, and  pei-petual  obedience,  and  endowed  him  with  power  and 
ability  to  keep  this  law  so  written  in  the  heart,  which  continued 
to  be  a  perfect  rule  of  righteousness,  and  such  as  was  delivered 
by  God  on  Momit  Sinai  in  ten  commandments ;  and  that  the  law 
commonly  called  moral,  doth  forever  bind  all,  as  well  justified 


52  THE  SABBATH  INSTITUTED 

persons  as  others,  to  the  obedience  thereof,  not  only  in  regard  of 
the  matter  contained  in  it,  but  also  in  regard  of  the  authority  of 
Grod  the  Creator  who  gave  it;  neither  doth  Chiist  in  the  Gospel 
any  way  dissolve,  but  much  strengthen  the  obligation;  that  al- 
though true  believers  be  not  under  the  law  as  a  covenant  of  works, 
to  be  thereby  justified  or  condemned,  yet  it  is  of  great  use  to 
them,  as  well  as  to  others,  in  that  as  a  i-ule  of  life  it  informs  thera 
of  the  will  of  God,  their  duty ;  it  directs  and  binds  them  to  walk 
acccordingly,  discovering  also  the  sinful  pollution  of  their  nature, 
hearts,  and  Hves;  so  that  examining  themselves  thereby  they  may 
come  to  a  further  conviction  of,  and  humiliation  for,  and  hatred 
against  sin,  together  with  a  clear  sight  of  the  need  they  have  of 
Chi-ist  and  the  perfection  of  his  obedience.  It  is  likewdse  of  use 
to  regenerate,  and  to  restrain  their  corruptions  in  that  forbidden 
sin,  and  the  tlu-eatenings  of  it  do  serve  to  show  whatever  their 
sins  deserve,  and  what  afflictions  in  this  life  they  may  expect  for 
thern,  although  freed  from  the  curse  thereof  threatened  in  the 
law.  The  promises  of  it  in  like  maimer  show  them  God's  ap- 
probation of  obedience,  and  what  blessings  they  may  expect  upon 
the  performance  thereof,  although  not  due  unto  them  by  the  law 
as  a  covenant  of  works,  so  that  a  man's  doing  one  and  detemng 
from  the  other  is  no  evidence  of  his  being  under  the  law  and  not 
imder  grace.  That  the  forementioned  uses  are  not  contraiy  to 
the  grace  of  the  Gospel,  but  do  sweedy  comply  vvdth  it,  the  spirit 
of  Christ  subduing  and  enabling  the  will  of  man  to  do  that  freely 
and  cheei-ftiUy  wmch  the  wiU  of  God  requireth  to  be  done.  As 
it  is  the  law  of  nature  that  in  general  a  due  proportion  of  time  be 
set  apart  for  the  worship  of  God,  so  in  his  Word,  by  a  positive,  mo- 
ral, and  perpetual  commandment,  binding  all  men  in  all  ages,  he 
hath  particularly  appointed  the  seventh  day  for  the  Sabbath  to  be 
kept  holy  to  himself." 

There  are  quoted  in  the  Assembly's  Confession 
of  Faith  these  Scriptures,  Isa.  56  :  2 — 7 ;  Matt.  5 : 
17,  18,  and  Ex.  20:  8—11,  "Remember  the  Sab- 
bath day  to  keep  it  holy;  the  seventh  day  is  the 
Sabbath  of  the  Lord  thy  God."  If  these  Script- 
ures prove  any  thing,  they  must  needs  prove  the 
continuance  of  the  seventh  day,  seeing  that  in  all 
the  Scriptures  there  is  no  mention  made  of  the  first 
day  of  the  week  being  the  Sabbath. 

Now  it  is  no  less  than  an  apparent  injury  offered 
to  the  holy  Scriptures  to  apply  that  name  to  one 
day  which  God  himself  hath  applied  to  another; 


FOR  MANKIND  AT   LARGE.  53 

and  an  high  affront  to  keep  and  plead  for  the  first 
day  to  be  the  Sabbath  by  a  commandment  whereby 
God  enjoins  the  keeping  of  the  seventh  day.  Christ 
saith  the  Scripture  cannot  be  broken.  But  if  these 
may  be  reckoned  good  and  sound  consequences,  I 
know  no  absurdity  so  great,  no  heresy  so  damnable, 
no  superstitions  so  ridiculous,  but  they  may  be  cloak- 
ed with  the  authority  of  the  Scripture,  although 
they  are  the  mere  conceits  and  inventions  of  men. 
Yet  it  is  marvelous  to  see  with  what  great  confidence 
some  men  do  assert  the  Scripture  to  be  their  rule, 
while  they  do  build  up  so  considerable  a  part  of  their 
doctrine  without  the  least  Scripture  foundation. 

Thus  have  I  given  an  account  of  the  conclusions 
of  both  the  forenamed  parties,  it  being  the  mind  of 
their  general  councils;  and  though  they  are  for  a 
first-day  Sabbath,  yet  how  little  reason  they  have 
for  it,  may  be  easily  seen  from  their  writings  by  the 
impartial  reader. 

1.  They  say,  that  the  law  which  God  gave  Adam 
bound  him  and  all  his  posterity  to  perpetual  obe- 
dience, and  that  this  law  was  the  same  with  that 
given  at  Mount  Sinai;  to  which  I  say,  that  one  of 
these  commandments  was  to  have  the  Sabbath  day 
remembered,  that  it  might  be  kept  holy,  and  the 
seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath  which  God  commanded. 

2.  They  say,  that  the  law  doth  bind  justified 
persons  as  well  as  others  to  the  obedience  thereof, 
and  that  Christ  in  the  Gospel  hath  not  any  way  dis- 
solved, but  much  strengthened,  this  obligation. 
And  then  I  say,  that  if  it  be  so,  as  it  is  indeed,  un- 
doubtedly the  seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath,  and  not  the 
first ;  for  it  being  once  the  Sabbath,  if  that  day  be 
now  abrogated  as  to  its  being  the  Sabbath  day,  then 
must  it  needs  cross  their  conclusion,  and  also  the 
truth  of  God. 

5* 


54  THE    SABBATH 

3.  They  say,  that  this  commandment  is  perpetual, 
binding  all  men  in  all  ages.  But  God  in  this  com- 
mandment requires  the  keeping  holy  of  the  seventh 
day;  this  is  the  very  matter  of  the  commandment. 
Hence,  as  it  was  originally  given  forth  by  the  great 
Lawgiver,  so  it  remains  down  to  the  present  age; 
and  the  keeping  of  the  first  day  instead  of  the  sev- 
enth enjoined  in  this  perpetual  commandment,  as  it 
is  expressly  contrary  to  the  precept,  so  it  will  be 
found  no  better  than  Jeroboam's  keeping  a  feast  in 
the  eighth  month  for  the  feast  of  the  Lord  which 
should  be  kept  in  the  seventh  month.  O !  remem- 
ber the  brand  fixed  on  Jeroboam,  namely,  that  he 
sinned^  and  caicsed  Israel  to  sin.     1  Kings  12 :  33. 


CHAPTER  in. 


The  rigorous  and  burdensome  character  of  the  Sabbath  considered. 

Mr.  Ward  says  that  the  seventh-day  Sabbath  was 
a  rigorous  Sabbath;  they  were  to  be  stoned  to 
death  who  broke  it. 

I  answer — The  law  of  stoning  is  added  after- 
wards. This  law  is  not  written  on  tables  of  stone, 
nor  found  among  the  ten  commandments.  Ex.  20. 
This  is  more  plain  fi'om  Num.  15 :  34.  They  put 
the  Sabbath-breaker  in  ward,  for  it  was  not  declar- 
ed what  should  be  done  unto  him ;  so  you  may  see 
that  the  law  of  stoning  was  no  part  of  the  ten  com- 
mandments. But  what  a  strange  thing  is  this,  Mr. 
Ward,  that  you  should  count  it  a  dangerous  opinion 
to  hold  that  the  Sabbath  is  in  force,  because  of  the 
penalty !     Suppose  it  be  so,  the  same  may  be  said 


RIGOROUS  AND  BURDENSOME.  55 

of  the  rest  of  the  commandments.  For  instance, 
the  first  commandment  is,  *'  Thou  shalt  have  no 
other  God  but  me;"  he  that  worshiped  a  strange 
god  was  to  be  put  to  death.  Now  shall  we  not  own 
this  commandment  because  the  breaker  of  it  was 
so  punished?  Again,  the  fifth  commandment  is, 
" Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother;"  but  he  that 
curseth  his  father  or  his  mother  was  to  be  put  to 
death.  Now  shall  we  not  honor  father  and  mother, 
and  shall  we  break  this  commandment,  because  this 
punishment  belongs  to  the  breakers  of  it]  Again, 
"He  that  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by  man  shall  his 
blood  be  shed."  Now  is  there  any  danger  in  the 
owning  of  this  commandment,  "  Thou  shalt  do  no 
murder,"  because  the  punishment  is  in  force] 
Adultery  also  was  to  be  punished.  Deut.  22:  21. 
Now  will  you  say  that  these  commandments  belong 
not  to  us?  So  that  this  objection  is  of  no  weight 
or  use  at  all,  except  it  be  to  affright  people,  lest 
they  should  look  into  the  truth. 

This  stoning  is  an  additional  law,  as  I  said  be- 
fore ;  it  was  added  afterwards  because  of  trans- 
gression, "Knowing  this,  (saith  the  Apostle,  in 
1  Tim.  1 :  9,)  that  the  law  is  not  made  for  a  right- 
eous man,  but  for  the  lawless  and  disobedient,  for 
the  ungodly  and  for  sinners,  and  for  unholy  and  pro- 
fane, for  murderers  of  fathers  and  murderers  of 
mothers,  for  man-slayers,  for  whoremongers,  for 
them  that  defile  themselves  with  mankind,  for  men- 
stealers,  for  lyers,  and  for  perjured  persons."  Deut. 
17;  2,  5;  21:   18,  21;  22:  21,  22. 

Mr.  Ward  says  that  the  seventh-day  Sabbath  was 
a  burdensome  Sabbath.  What  is  the  matter,  sir, 
that  you  complain  of  the  Lord's  holy  Sabbath  ]  O ! 
say  you,  it  is  to  be  kept  from  even  to  even,  (Lev. 
23 :  32,)  and  that  is  too  long  a  time  for  the  Sabbath. 


;56  THE    SABUATII 

Men  do  not  complain  of  whole  days  for  tlie  world 
and  their  pleasures;  they  rise  early  and  go  to  bed 
late,  and  eat  the  bread  of  carefulness.  They  do 
not  say  all  the  v/eek,  when  the  morning  comes, 
Would  God  it  were  evening;  but  rather,  in  the 
evening  they  say.  Would  it  were  morning  again,  to 
go  after  the  world  afresh.  Yea,  we  find  some  even 
in  sinful  ways  and  pleasures  so  unwearied,  that 
when  one  day  is  past  they  will  pitch  upon  the  next 
day  with  enlarged  resolutions.  "Come  ye,  say 
they,  I  will  fetch  wine,  and  we  will  fill  ourselves 
with  strong  drink,  and  to-morrow  shall  be  as  this 
day,  and  much  more  abundant."     Isa.  56  :   12. 

Some  think  that  the  Sabbath  ceases  when  the 
public  exercises  end.  But  if  so,  then  some  Sab- 
baths are  very  short.  Shall  we  think  that  men  can 
begin  and  end  a  Sabbath  when  they  list?  The 
church  of  God  in  ages  past  have  determined  an  en- 
tire day  to  be  due  to  the  Lord  of  the  Sabbath,  and 
the  consecration  of  that  whole  day  to  the  Lord's 
service.  Austin  declares  his  judgment  touching  the 
time  of  the  Sabbath  from  that  text.  Lev.  23  :  32, 
*'  From  even  to  even  shall  ye  celebrate  your  Sab- 
bath." It  is  evident  from  that  place  of  the  Apostle, 
James  2:  10,  that  whosoever  carelessly  casts  by 
any  one  of  God's  precepts,  transgresses  the  whole 
law  of  God ;  and  whosoever  willfully  neglects  any 
part  of  God's  Sabbath,  is  guilty  of  breaking  this 
holy  day.  Men  should  not  suit  the  day  to  their 
duties,  but  their  duties  to  the  day;  while  the  day 
esdures,  their  duty  remains. 

But  you  say,  that  so  to  keep  the  whole  day  is  tiring, 
a  hard  service,  who  can  do  it]  I  answer,  that  God, 
because  of  our  infirmities,  does  afford  what  may 
refresh,  the  better  to  bear  up  our  bodies;  he  allows 
us  moderate  sleep  in  the  night,  and  temperate  food 
in  the  day.     True,  it  was  in  Turtullian''s  time  a  dis- 


RIGOROUS  AND  BURDENSOME.  57 

pute,  whether  it  be  not  a  duty  on  the  Lord's  day  to 
fast,  but  Christ's  apology  for  his  disciples  in  pluck- 
ing the  ears  of  corn  and  eating  them  on  the  Sab- 
bath day,  may  easily  quiet  this  question.  Mark  2 : 
26.  And  blessed  be  the  Lord  for  this  exhibition 
of  his  love. 

But  see  what  some  of  God's  servants  have  de- 
sired; for  instance,  David,  that  good  servant  of 
God,  who  said,  in  Ps.  27:  4,  "One  thing  have  I  de- 
sired of  the  Lord,  and  that  will  I  seek  after,  that  I 
may  dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  all  the  days 
of  my  life."  As  if  he  should  wish  it  were  always 
Sabbath  day  with  him.  In  Ps.  84 :  4,  10,  he  says, 
"  Blessed  are  they  that  dwell  in  thy  house  ;  for  a 
day  in  thy  courts  is  better  than  a  thousand.  I  had 
rather  be  a  door-keeper  in  the  house  of  my  God, 
than  to  dwell  in  the  tents  of  wickedness."  Were 
men  of  David's  mind,  one  day  in  the  week  for  the 
service  of  God  would  not  be  too  long. 

There  have  been  persons  who  have  spent  many 
nights  and  days  in  the  service  of  God.  See  a  con- 
siderable instance  in  Luke  2  :  37 — a  widow  of  about 
fourscore  and  four  years,  which  departed  not  from 
the  temple,  but  served  God  with  fasting  and  prayer 
night  and  day. 

What  will  such  do  as  are  tired  out  with  the  time 
of  the  Sabbath,  should  they  go  to  heaven]  There 
it  is  ever  Sabbath,  always  serving  of  God.  Ber- 
nard urges  the  observation  of  the  Sabbath,  and 
holding  out  in  holy  exercises  thereon,  upon  this  ac- 
count, that  by  present  rest  men  may  learn  to  live 
in  rest  eternal,  and  by  persevering  service  men  may 
be  prompt  to  perpetuate  the  Lord's  everlasting 
praise.  But  how  would  men  endure  heaven,  and  a 
never-ending  Sabbath  there,  who  love  not  to  keep 
a  Sabbath  here  on  earth  ] 


58  THE    SABBATH 

It  is  objected,  I  cannot  so  attend  to  duties  on  the 
Sabbath  day,  for  I  have  other  works  of  necessity  to 
do.  To  which  I  answer,  that  there  are  works  of  ne- 
cessity which  may  be  done  upon  the  Lord's  sev- 
enth-day Sabbath ;  as  to  prepare  food  to  refresh  our 
bodies,  to  resist  the  invasion  of  enemies,  to  quench 
the  rage  of  fire,  to  preserve  the  life  of  cattle,  and 
the  like.     Ex.12:   16;  Luke  13:   15;   14:  5. 

Those  who  say  they  must  necessarily  do  such 
things  on  the  Sabbath,  ought  carefully  to  see  that  it 
be  not  a  feigned  necessity,  or  a  made  necessity. 
To  pretend  a  thing  necessary,  when  indeed  there 
is  no  necessity  for  such  a  thing  to  be  done,  is  to 
commit  a  double  sin — to  do  what  is  not  good,  and 
say  what  is  not  true.  Men  must  beware  that  they 
bring  not  a  necessity  upon  themselves  to  do  such 
things  upon  the  Sabbath  as  they  might  prevent 
through  a  prudent  foresight;  this  is  to  make  a  sin 
with  a  necessity.  *'  Thou  shalt  call  the  Sabbath  a 
delight,  not  doing  thine  own  ways,  nor  finding  thine 
own  pleasure."  Men  have  many  necessities  which 
are  of  their  own  causing,  and  not  of  God's  ap- 
pointing. 

There  are  things  necessary  in  their  season,  which 
yet  are  not  necessary  upon  the  Sabbath.  It  is  ne- 
cessary for  a  man  to  follow  his  lawful  calling,  and 
to  be  diligent  in  his  worldly  business.  When  we 
read,  says  Bernard,  that  Adam  in  the  pleasant  place 
of  Paradise  was  appointed  to  work,  shall  we  think 
that  the  sons  of  Adam  in  this  troublesome  wilder- 
ness world  are  placed  here  to  play?  No,  it  is  ne- 
cessary for  the  sons  of  men  to  be  industrious  in 
their  lawful  affairs.  Moses,  putting  his  hand  into 
his  bosom,  it  became  leprous,  but  pulling  it  out  it 
was  made  whole.  God  hath  given  men  hands  for 
a  threefold  work,  says  one — to  lift  them  up  in  prayer 
to  God,  to  stretch  them  out  in  charity  to  the  poor. 


RIGOROUS  Ax\D  BURDENSOME.  59 

and  to  put  them  down  by  labor  in  a  lawful  calling. 
So  that  for  a  man  to  labor  at  his  lawful  calling,  in 
its  proper  season,  is  necessary.  But  to  labor  upon 
the  Lord's  Sabbath  is  dangerous;  the  gain  of  this 
day  may  be  as  the  coal  brought  to  the  nest,  setting 
the  young  and  all  on  fire.  Reproof  is  given  to 
Martha,  by  our  Saviour,  for  her  being  about  ordina- 
ry affairs,  assuring  her  that  one  thing  was  needful. 
Luke  10:  41.  Needful  it  was  for  Martha  to  be 
about  her  household  business;  yea,  but  not  when 
Christ  was  present,  and  such  an  opportunity  served 
for  her  soul's  advantage,  which  her  sister  Mary 
minded.  So  although  it  is  needful  for  Christians  to 
look  after  their  lawful  business  in  the  world,  yet 
not  upon  the  Lord's  Sabbath,  the  season  for  the 
soul's  advantage.  Yea,  upon  the  Sabbath  is  not  the 
service  of  God  much  more  needful  ?  As  the  Apostle 
said,  in  Acts  4,  "  Whether  it  be  right  in  the  sight  of 
God  to  hearken  unto  you  more  than  unto  God,  judge 
ye,"  so  say  I,  whether  it  be  on  the  seventh-day 
Sabbath  more  needful  to  serve  God  or  yourselves, 
judge  ye.  Whether  it  be  more  needful  to  take 
care  for  your  temporal  or  your  eternal  being,  judge 
ye.  Among  necessaries,  that  which  is  most  neces- 
sary is  to  be  first  minded. 

Again,  it  is  objected,  that  we  see  none  so  exact; 
our  neighbors  are  not  so  nice,  but  that  they  take 
their  liberties  to  work  on  the  Lord's  Sabbath,  and 
why  may  not  we  ] 

I  answer — Ist.  We  should  live  by  precept,  and 
not  by  the  example  of  men.  It  is  the  law  of  God, 
and  not  the  lives  of  men,  that  must  be  our  rule.  As 
he  that  will  be  for  God  must  cross  the  most  of  men, 
so  he  that  would  go  to  heaven  must  leave  the 
greatest  part  of  the  world  behind  him. 

2d.  If  patterns  are  to  be  followed,  be  ye  fol- 


60  THE    SABBATH 

lowers  of  God  as  dear  children.  Eph.  3 :  1.  In 
six  days  God  made  heaven  and  earth,  and  rested 
the  seventh  day ;  wherefore  the  Lord  blessed  the 
seventh  day  for  the  Sabbath,  and  hallow  it.  Like- 
wise let  us  look  upon  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who 
went  into  the  synagogue  on  the  Sabbath  day  as  his 
custom  was.  We  ought  to  learn  of  Christ,  though 
not  to  walk  on  the  water,  yet  to  regard  the  seventh 
day  as  the  Sabbath. 

3d.  If  ye  will  take  your  model  herein  after  the 
manner  of  men,  it  is  best  to  look  back  to  preced- 
ing saints.  God's  church  and  people,  considered  as 
past  and  present,  may  be  compared  to  that  cloud 
(Ex.  14 :  20)  which  was  partly  bright  and  partly 
dark.  The  bright  part  was  before,  to  give  light  to 
the  Israelites;  and  the  dark  part  behind,  to  blind 
the  Egyptians.  The  saints  and  people  of  God  afore- 
time were  as  the  bright  side  of  the  cloud,  shining 
clear  in  Christianity,  strict  in  all  the  ways  of  God, 
most  exact  in  Sabbath  service.  Such  as  now  pro- 
fess themselves  to  be  the  saints  of  God,  are  as  the 
following  dark  side  of  the  cloud,  more  dim  and 
dull  in  holy  duties,  more  loose  upon  the  Lord's  day, 
having  less  of  the  life  and  lustre  of  religion.  O  let 
us  but  think  what  was  the  care  of  Christians  in 
former  ages  to  improve  Sabbaths  and  all  the  service 
of  God.  Such  follow,  with  Christ  and  the  holy 
apostles. 

4th.  If  herein  you  will  take  such  as  are  present 
for  your  pattern,  blessed  be  the  Lord,  some  are  left 
that  hold  up  religion  to  the  life,  and  with  great  care 
look  to  the  Lord's  seventh-day  Sabbath,  and  the 
duties  thereof.  But  there  are  divers  of  whom  we 
may  complain,  as  Clirysostom  did  of  some  in  his 
time.  Whereby,  saith  he,  shall  I  know  you  to  be  a 
Christian  1  Do  you  not  delight  in  any  place  more 
than  in  the  courts   of  the    Lord's  house,   and  take 


RIGOROUS  AND  BURDENSOME.  61 

pleasure  in  any  time  more  than  in  the  hours  of  the 
Lord's  day?  Yet  some  few  are  found  faithful  to 
the  Lord  and  his  day,  and  such  we  should  duly 
observe. 

5th.  When  an  age  is  loose  in  religion,  it  will  be  the 
more  to  any  man's  credit  and  comfort  to  be  exact 
and  strict,  and  particularly  to  be  a  precise  Sabbath- 
keeper,  in  a  Sabbath-breaking  age.  It  is  a  man's  hon- 
or to  remain  sound  in  his  principles,  and  punctual 
in  the  practical  observation  of  the  Sabbath,  when 
opposite  evils  are  high  and  huge;  like  strange 
birds,  that  build  their  nests  in  places  high  and  diffi- 
cult, while  the  multitude  in  to\\Tis  and  parishes  are 
like  toads  and  frogs  in  fens  and  puddles,  croaking 
against  the  Lord's  holy  Sabbath.  Therefore,  as 
many  of  us  have  others  within  our  gates,  and  under 
our  ofovernment,  we  ouo^ht,  as  much  as  in  us  lies, 
upon  the  Lord's  Sabbath,  to  endeavor  to  draw  them 
to  holy  duties.  This  may  appear  plain  through  a 
double  proof,  the  precept  of  God  about  them,  and 
the  iwopcrty  of  God  in  them.  God  gives  his 
precept  for  them  herein,  as  we  find  in  the  fourth 
commandment :  The  seventh  day  is  the  Sahhath,  in 
it  thou  shalt  do  no  manner  of  work,  thou,  nor  thy  son, 
nor  thy  dMughter,  thy  man-servant,  nor  thy  maidser- 
vant, nor  thy  stranger.  If  it  be  our  duty  to  keep 
them  from  work  for  the  ease  of  their  bodies,  then 
it  is  also  to  bring  them  to  holy  ordinances  for  the 
good  of  their  souls.  And  the  bodily  rest  we  are 
to  allow  them  lies  upon  this  account,  they  are  to 
rest  from  the  common  works  of  their  vocation,  in 
order  to  the  exercise  of  religion  in  private  and 
public  upon  the  Lord's  day.  God  keeps  his  property 
in  them.  He  is  the  great  householder,  and  our 
families  are  his.  As  Laban  said  to  Jacob,  (Gen.  31 : 
43,)  "  These  daughters  are  my  daughters,  and  these 
children  are  my  children,  and  these  cattle  are  my 
6 


62  THE    SABBATH 

cattle,  and  all  that  thou  seest  is  mine;"  thus  may 
God  say  to  all  generations,  Thy  sons  are  my  sons, 
and  thy  servants  are  my  servants,  and  all  that  thou 
hast  is  mine.  Now,  as  by  virtue  of  our  interest  in 
them,  and  authority  over  them,  they  work  for  us 
the  six  days,  so  by  virtue  of  God's  interest  in  them, 
and  sovereignty  over  them,  they  are  bound  to 
serve  God  on  the  seventh  day.  They  have  a  Fa- 
ther and  Master  in  heaven,  whose  commands  on 
this  day  they  ought  to  obey,  which  we  should  fur- 
ther, and  not  hinder.  As  the  Lord  said  by  Moses 
to  Pharaoh,  "Let  my  people  go  that  they  may  serve 
me,"  so  he  may  say  to  us.  Let  my  children  go,  and 
my  servants  go,  that  they  may  worship  me  upon  my 
holy  Sabbath.  Pharaoh  was  froward  against  this; 
but  think  what  befell  him,  and  let  us  fear  lest  we 
should  be  in  this  case  towards  all  under  our  charge. 
But  rather  let  us  be  like  the  master  of  the  colt, 
who,  as  soon  as  he  heard  that  the  Lord  had  sent  for 
him,  straightway  loosed  him  and  let  him  go. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


The  Sabbath  not  Ceremonial. 


Mr.  Ward  is  disposed  to  wipe  the  fourth  com- 
mandment out  of  the  decalogue,  and  would  fain 
make  it  ceremonial.  But  his  arguments  brought  for 
this  purpose  are  of  no  validity.  It  was  a  sign, 
saith  he,  between  God  and  the  Israelites.  Ex.  31  : 
13;  Ezek.  20:   12. 

I  answer — God,  i7i  giving  his  law,  saith  no  such 
thing.     That  was  subsequently  added  as  a  motive 


NOT    CERKMOXIAL.  63 

to  keep  it.  We  slioulcl  make  a  clifFerence  between 
the  law  itself,  and  what  was  added  for  instruction, 
as  the  state  of  the  people  then  required.  The  Lord 
doth  not  say  in  the  Scripture,  you  shall  not  here- 
after, namely,  after  the  death  of  Christ,  keep  the 
seventh  day  for  the  Sabbath  any  more,  because  I 
have  made  it  a  sign.  No ;  but  thus  much  is  collect- 
ed by  Mr.  Ward,  because  God  made  the  Sabbath  a 
sign.  Now  I  can  but  wonder  how  mortal  man 
dareth,  by  bare  force  of  his  blind  and  feeble  reason, 
thus  to  contradict  the  Lord.  God  saith,  in  his  ten 
commandments,  which  he  wrote  above  all  Scripture 
by  his  own  finger,  ".Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to 
keep  it  holy ;  the  seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath ;  in  it 
thou  shalt  not  do  any  work."  Quite  contrary  to  God's 
word,  men  now-a-days  blush  not  to  avow  that  the 
Sabbath  day  is  abolished,  and  therefore  is  not  to  be 
remembered  any  more,  nor  are  we  to  refrain  from 
servile  work  in  it ;  yea,  they  contradict  their  Sav- 
iour, who  said  of  the  law  of  the  ten  command- 
ments, that  one  jot  or  tittle  of  it  shall  not  pass  till  all 
be  fulfilled.  Matt.  5:  18.  Now  whether  it  be 
safer  to  leave  the  weight  of  your  souls  upon  God's 
and  Christ's  express  words,  or  upon  man's  force  of 
reason,  by  way  of  collection  and  blind  consequences, 
judge  ye.  ^ 

And  how  is  it  that  any  dare,  from  this  text  in 
Ex.  31:  13,  so  to  infer  the  contraction  of  one  of 
God's  commandments,  as  to  say  that  the  Sabbath 
day  is  abolished  because  their  observance  of  it 
was  a  sign,  unless  he  doth  therewith  lay  down  his 
text  of  Scripture  to  prove  it  withal,  where  it  is  ex- 
pressly said  that  the  seventh  day  is  or  might  bo 
abolished  because  it  was  a  sign] — the  which  I  never 
yet  saw  done  by  any,  nor  do  I  think  I  ever  shall 
see.  In  the  mean  time,  whether  it  is  better  to  obey 
God's  express  words,  or  men's  corrupt  reasoning  and 


64  THE    SABBATH 

inferences  against  his  words,  judge  ye.  Among 
men,  a  law  enacted  by  the  highest  court  of  Parlia- 
ment cannot  be  reversed  or  abolished  by  the  law- 
yer's art  of  pleading,  but  only  by  a  repeal  by 
another  Parliament.  Methinks  we  should  not  have 
less  reverence  for  the  laws  enacted  by  God,  nor 
suffer  any  alterations  in  them  by  the  artful  reason- 
itigs  of  men,  unless  we  have  plain  command  from 
the  great  and  high  God. 

But  be  it  so,  that  the  Sabbath  is  a  sign;  yet  I  deny 
that  it  is  abolished,  for  all  signs  are  not  abolished. 
The  rainbow  is  a  sign  to  men,  that  God  will  never 
destroy  the  world  any  more  by  water.  This  sign 
is  not  abolished,  for  to  this  day  we  may  see  it  in 
the  clouds.  Not  every  sign  is  a  ceremony.  The 
sun  and  moon  are  for  signs ;  so  are  Christ  and  his 
church  a  sign;  and  the  ten  commandments  are  signs. 
Deut.  6:  8;  Isa.  8  :  18;  Matt.  24:30.  And  if  Sab- 
bath-keeping be  a  sign  of  people's  being  sanctified 
by  the  Lord,  then  Sabbath-breaking  is  a  contrary 
sign.  The  Sabbath  is  a  sign  that  God  made  the 
world  in  six  days,  and  rested  the  seventh ;  and  there- 
fore we  are  to  keep  the  Sabbath  as  a  perpetual  cove- 
nant. The  end  why  he  made  it  a  sign  to  Israel  doth 
alike  appertain  to  us;  to  wit,  that  they  might  know 
him  to  be  the  Lord  that  sanctified  them.  Ex.  31 : 
13;  20:  12.  Are  not  we  to  learn  and  know  as 
much  in  keeping  our  rest-day  in  holy  duties  1  Yea, 
blessed  are  they  that  do  learn  this  lesson  to  know 
the  Lord,  that  he  doth  sanctify  them  in  the  use  of 
his  ordinances  upon  the  seventh  day.  As  the  Sab- 
bath was  to  be  kept  as  a  sign  of  sanctification,  so  it 
was  to  be  kept  because  in  six  days  Jehovah  made 
heaven  and  earth,  and  rested  the  seventh  day;  and 
certainly  this  moral  reason  is  as  binding  in  these 
our  days  as  ever.  If  then  rest  be  a  sign,  and  is 
abolished,  and  that  rest  spoken  of  in  the  fourth  com- 


NOT    CEREMONIAL.  65 

mandment,  then  is  that  holiness  there  enjoined  also 
abolished.  For  if  men  may  work  at  servile  labor, 
with  their  families,  in  fields  and  in  the  markets, 
where  is  any  place  left  for  holy  assemblies,  and  for 
prayers  with  and  in  the  congregation,  and  the  like? 
So  then  this  absurdity  they  fall  into  by  their  infer- 
ences, that  they  make  the  very  duties  of  the  Sab- 
bath— rest  and  holiness — to  be  ceremonial,  which 
elsewhere  they  hold  to  be  moral.  But  from  all 
which  is  before  written,  it  is  very  apparent  that  this 
fourth  commandment  is  in  no  way  ceremonial,  but 
is  a  perpetual  law  to  the  world's  end.  We  have  as 
much  need  of  time  now  to  worship  God  in  as  ever; 
and  we  might  as  well  take  God's  time  as  man's 
time,  and  so  end  the  controversy,  and  bring  our- 
selves under  the  inexpressibly  precious  promise 
annexed  to  it,  "Blessed  is  the  man  that  doeth  this, 
and  the  son  of  man  that  layeth  hold  on  it,  that 
keepeth  the  Sabbath  from  polluting  it,  and  keepeth 
his  hand  from  doing  evil."     Isa.  56  :  2. 

It  was  a  7nemorial,  saith  Mr.  Ward,  of  their  de- 
liverance out  of  Egyptian  bondage.     Deut.  5 :   15. 

I  answer,  that  this  reason  was  added  by  Moses, 
to  move  the  people  to  pity  their  servants  and  cattle. 
Must  Moses'  charitable  use  made  of  the  Sabbath, 
and  his  argument  to  persuade  them  to  mercy,  from 
God's  mercy  to  them,  alter  the  precept  and  disan- 
nul iti  The  words  in  the  beginning  of  the  verse 
may  be  conceived  in  a  parenthesis,  and  brought  in 
only  as  a  memorial  of  that  great  deliverance,  (as 
God  remembered  it  in  the  preface  to  all  the  com- 
mandments, to  move  them  to  observe  the  whole,) 
and  the  word  therefore  is  to  be  annexed  to  the  end 
of  the  fourteenth  verse,  as  indeed  it  ought  in  sense 
to  be.  This  being  so,  the  words  prove  not  the  Sab- 
bath to  be  instituted  for  a  memorial  of  their  deliver- 
6* 


66  TilE    SABBATH 

ance  from  Egypt,  tliough  tliey  had  good  cause  to 
remember  their  deliverance,  when  keeping  the 
fourth  commandment,  as  well  as  when  observing 
the  first,  and  all  the  others;  for,  as  I  said,  it  is  in 
the  preface  to  the  whole  law,  as  never  to  be  for- 
gotten by  them,  but  to  be  remembered  as  a  strong 
motive  to  stir  them  up  to  obedience.  Almighty 
God  chargeth  us  to  remember  the  Sabbath  day; 
but  disobedient  Christians  do  willfully  forget  it. 
God  saith  the  seventh  day  is  his  Sabbath;  but  Mr. 
Ward  saith  the  first  day  is  God's  Sabbath.  Whether 
we  shall  believe  God  or  him,  judge  ye.  God  com- 
mands the  last  day  of  the  week ;  but  Mr.  Ward  says 
he  commands  the  first  day  of  the  week.  Mr.  Ward 
says  Christ  altered  and  changed  the  Sabbath  from 
the  seventh  to  the  first  day ;  but  this  is  a  notorious 
slander  raised  against  Christ,  for  search  the  Scrip- 
tures and  you  will  no  where  find  that  Christ  spoke 
one  word  against  the  Sabbath,  or  about  altering  or 
changing  it.  I  can  prove  that  the  Sabbath  is  not 
changed,  nor  altered,  but  is  a  perpetual  command 
to  the  world's  end. 

If  the  Sabbath  day  be  altered  and  changed,  then 
it  is  not  now  in  force ;  and  then  the  fourth  command- 
ment is  abolished,  and  stands  in  our  Bibles  for  a 
cypher.  For  nothing  is  required  in  the  fourth  com- 
mandment but  to  sanctify  the  seventh  day  by  rest 
from  labor,  and  by  the  worship  of  God.  If  the 
seventh  day  be  put  down  as  God's  holy  day;  if  it 
be  changed,  and  we  may  not  keep  it,  nor  worship 
God  in  it; — then  the  fourth  commandment,  in  our 
day,  commands  just  nothing,  and  it  is  but  a  cypher. 


CHAPTER  V, 

The  glaring  impiety  apparent  in  those  who  alter  the  language 
of  God's  Law. 

Mr.  Ward  says,  that  the  law  of  the  fourth  com- 
mandment binds  us  to  a  time  of  worship,  though 
not  to  that  time  of  the  seventh  day. 

To  which  I  answer,  that  there  are  but  seven  days 
in  all;  six  of  them  are  appointed  working  days, 
and  the  seventh  day  for  the  worship  of  God ;  and 
there  is  no  time  commanded  in  the  fourth  command- 
ment.but  the  seventh  day.  Take  the  seventh  day 
away,  and  where  will  you  find  your  time  of  wor- 
ship l  Nay,  where  will  you  find  any  such  thing  as  the 
fourth  commandment,  if  you  take  away  the  observ- 
ation of  the  seventh  day'?  Leave  the  observation 
of  the  seventh-day  Sabbath  out  of  the  command- 
mandment,  and  take  your  pen,  and  write  me  out  tii« 
fourth  commandment  if  you  can.     Here  it  is: — 

Reme7}ibcr  the  to  keep  it  holy ;  six  days 

shalt  thoti  labor,  and  do  all  thy  ivork,  but  in 

it  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work,  thou,  nor  thy  son,  nor 
thy  daughter,  thy  iiian-servant,  nor  thy  maidservant, 
thine  ox,  nor  thine  ass,  nor  the  stranger  that  is  within 
thy  gates ;  for  in  six  days  the  Lord  made  heaven  and 
earth,  the  sea,  and  all  that  in  them  is,  and  rested  the 
icherefore  the  Lord  blessed 

Behold  now  what  a  monstrous  absurdity  you 
make  of  the  fourth  commandment,  while  you  think 
to  prove  yourself  wise  by  your  nice  distinctions  in 
making  God's  fourth  commandment  nothing  at  all 
but  a  mere  heap  of  confusion,  and  making  it  speak 
contradictions    to  itself.     For  from   Moses  to    the 


68  IMPIETY    OF    ALTEUIXG 

death  of  Clirist  it  commanded  the  observation  of 
the  seventh  day,  as  yourself  acknowledge :  and  yet 
now  it  contradicts  itself,  if  it  be  as  you  say,  and 
commands  not  the  observation  of  the  seventh  day, 
but  some  other  day — as  if  the  commands  of  God 
were  yea  and  nay,  like  your  arguments  against  the 
Sabbath.  However,  you  are  for  a  time  of  worship, 
though  you  are  against  the  Sabbath,  which  is  God's 
time.  Any  time  but  God's  time  will  serve  your 
turn  it  seems. 

This  blessed  day  is  one  of  those  precious  things 
w^hich  God  hath  committed  to  man's  trust  to  keep. 
Now  to  be  untrusty  and  treacherous  herein,  is  a 
most  abominable  sin.  Constantine  was  wont  to  say, 
"  Such  men  I  am  sure  will  never  be  faithful  to  me, 
who  are  unfaithful  to  their  God."  No  marvel  that 
men  betray  so  many  trusts  in  the  world,  when  they 
deal  so  falsely  with  God  in  his  holy  Sabbath.  To 
be  ungrateful  to  God  is  bad;  to  be  forgetful  of  God 
is  worse ;   but  to  be  perfidious  with  God  worst  of  alL 

Again,  though  God  hath  given  man  the  Sabbath 
for  his  use,  yet  he  still  continues  therein  his  own 
interest,  and  lets  it  go  upon  no  other  account  than 
to  have  it  religiously  kept.  Therefore  they  who 
take  it  from  God  upon  other  terms,  and  turn  it  to 
other  ends,  shall  be  thrust  among  thieves  in  the 
great  day  of  the  Lord's  account.  Pcrha2:)s  a  man 
may  say,  with  Samuel,  "Whom  have  I  defrauded  1 
whose  ox  or  ass  have  I  taken  1"  Some,  though 
they  have  not  thieved  from  their  neighbor,  yet  have 
stolen  from  God  the  time  of  his  holy  day.  Who  is 
not  afraid  to  be  found  such  a  felon]  As  the  blessed 
body  of  Christ  was  crucified  between  two  thieves, 
so  this  blessed  day  of  God  is  now  crucified  between 
those  called  Christians  and  the  Turks.  The  Christ- 
ians keep  the  first  day,  and  the  Turks  keep  the  sixth 
day.     As  Herod  and  Pilate  both  agreed  for  Christ's 


THE  LANGUAGE  OF  GOd's  LAW.  69 

death,  so  these  both  join  against  the  Lord's  sev- 
enth-day Sabbath ;  and  good  Lord  help  them  who 
labor  to  rescue  it  ]  * 

Austin  well  observes,  that  robbers  are  worse  than 
thieves.  Thieves  take  goods  secretly  by  fraud, 
when  the  owners  are  not  aware;  but  robbers  take 
openly,  by  force,  the  owners  looking  on.  Thus 
men  take  away  the  Sabbath  day  under  God's  all- 
seeing  eye.  That  which  God  holds,  they  profanely 
pluck  away.  Among  highway  robbers  such  shall 
be  ranked,  not  repenting.  "Will  a  man  rob  God? 
yet  ye  have  robbed  me;  but  ye  say,  wherein  have 
we  robbed  theel"     Even  in  the  day  and  time  of 


*  It  is  woi-thy  of  notice,  that  the  followers  of  Mohammed 
observe  the  sixth  day  of  the  week  as  their  day  of  public  wor- 
ship, and  are  about  as  much  perplexed  to  know  why  that  day 
was  selected,  as  Chiistians  are  to  assign  a  reason  for  keeping  Sun- 
day. Sale,  in  liis  edition  of  the  Koran,  says,  "Several  reasons 
are  given  why  the  sixth  day  of  the  week  was  pitched  upon  for 
this  purpose;  but  Mohammed  seemed  to  have  preferred  that  day 
chiefly  because  it  was  the  day  on  which  the  people  used  to 
be  assembled  long  before  his  time,  though  such  assembhes  were 
had,  perhaps,  ratlier  on  a  civil  thaii  a  rehgious  account.  How- 
ever it  be,  the  Mohammedan  writers  bestow  very^  extraordinary 
encomiums  on  this  day,  callmg  it  the  pi-ince  of  days,  and  the 
most  excellent  day  on  wliich  the  sun  rises,  pretenduig  also  that 
it  wall  be  the  day  on  which  the  last  judgment  will  be  solemnized ; 
and  they  esteem  it  a  peculiar  honor  to  Islam,  that  God  has  been 
pleased  to  appoint  this  day  to  be  the  feast-day  of  the  Moslems,  and 
gi-anted  them  the  advantage  of  liaving  first  observed  it."  In  a  note 
upon  the  Day  of  Assembly,  he  says,  "i,  e.  Friday,  which,  being  more 
peculiarly  set  apart  by  Mohammed  for  the  public  worship  of  God, 
is  therefore  yawm  al  joma,  i.  e.  day  of  the  assembly  in  congrega- 
tion, whereas  it  was  before  called  al  aruba.  The  first  time  this 
day  was  particularly  observed,  as  some  say,  was  on  [by]  tlie 
prophet  at  Medina,  into  which  city  he  is  said  to  have  made  his 
first  eutiy  on  a  Friday;  but  others  tell  us  tliat  Caul-ebu-hown,  one 
of  Mohammed's  ancestors,  gave  the  day  its  present  name,  because 
on  that  day  the  people  used  to  assemble  before  him.  One  reason 
given  for  the  observation  of  Friday,  preferably  to  any  other  day 
of  the  week,  is  because  on  that  day  God  finished  the  creation." 


70  ALTERING    GOD's    LAW. 

the  Sabbath.  Yea,  and  this  magnifies  the  sin  of  such 
men.  They  that  thieve  and  rob  men,  may  possibly 
plead  necessity,  having  nothing  of  their  own  where- 
on to  live;  but  the  Lord  hath  allowed  men  six  days 
of  their  own  for  any  needful  and  lawful  work. 
Hence  to  rob  Him  of  his  Sabbath  is  a  great  sin;  it 
is  sacrilege,  which  is  worse  than  all  the  rest.  Austin 
does  admirably  aggravate  this  sin,  and  he  makes  it 
so  much  the  greater,  because  it  is  a  sin  which  can- 
not be  committed  but  against  God  alone.  And  in 
what  way  can  it  be  worse  committed  against  God, 
than  by  polluting  the  holy  time  of  his  Sabbath  1 
To  abuse  sanctified  time,  is  such  sacrilege  as  the 
Lord  most  abominates.  "  Thou  that  abhorrest  idols, 
dost  thou  commit  sacrilege."  Why  is  it  not  worse 
sacrilege  to  take  this  blessed  day  from  God's  holy 
worship,  than  to  take  the  silver  cup  from  the  com- 
munion table,  or  the  great  Bible  from  the  reading 
desk'?  Be  not  deceived;  here  are  heaps  upon  heaps, 
many  sins  piled  upon  this  sin ;  yea,  more  might  be 
mentioned,  as  disobedience,  rebellion,  unbelief, 
pride,  self-conceit,  a  base  and  low  esteem  of  the 
ways  and  worship  of  God,  all  of  which  make  this 
sin  hateful. 

This  sin  against  the  Sabbath  day,  considered  in 
the  duties  thereof,  does  reach  so  far  against  God, 
that  it  is  found  to  be  a  sin  against  all  the  attributes 
of  God.  He  that  takes  not  care  to  keep  the 
Sabbath  of  God,  slights  the  wisdom  of  God,  dis- 
obeys the  2vin  of  God,  despises  the  mercy  of  God, 
provokes  the  justice  of  God,  contemns  the  imwer 
of  God,  abuses  the  7?«^/6'«cc  of  God,  defiles  the 
holiness  of  God,  defaces  the  heauty  of  God,  yea,  as 
it  were,  undermines  the  whole  being  of  God. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  pretence  of  a  diviiie  institution  for  keeping  the  first  day 
considered. 

Mr.  Ward  pretends  to  a  divine  institution  for  his 
first-day  Sabbath.  But  where  to  find  it,  he  knows 
not;  for  there  is  no  command  nor  example  for  it 
in  the  holy  Scriptures.  In  this  he  hath  done  more 
than  all  the  popes  and  cardinal  bishops  ever  did; 
for  they  never  pretend  to  a  divine  institution  for 
their  first-day  Sabbath,  but  only  say  it  was  changed 
by  the  authority  of  their  church.  But  I  never  read 
in  all  the  Scriptures,  that  ever  God  gave  man  the 
power  to  change  his  law.  • 

I  shall,  with  the  supplies  of  the  spirit  of  holiness, 
according  to  the  word  of  truth,  discover  the  deceit- 
ful color  he  has  given  to  some  Scriptures,  and 
then  show  the  reader  the  reprehensibility  of  those 
colors,  which,  how  fair  soever  to  outward  appear- 
ance for  a  while,  yet  are  a  false  guise,  a  paint  that 
will  melt  away  before  the  fire  of  God's  word.  The 
fallacies  are  soon  detected  and  confuted  before  a 
discerning,  judicious,  unprejudiced,  and  impartial 
reader. 

If  I  should  work  upon  the  seventh  day  contrary 
to  the  precept  in  the  law,  what  Scriptures  would 
bear  me  out  in  so  doing,  when  I  appear  before  the 
righteous  Judge  who  has  in  so  many  words  forbid 
this  ]  And  if  I  do  not  observe  the  first  day  as  the 
weekly  Sabbath  day,  but  do  work  on  that  day,  hav- 
mg  God's  command  and  example  for  it,  what  Scrip- 
tures have  you,  Mr.  Ward,  by  which  you  can  reprove 
mel  There  is  no  institution,  command,  promise, 
or  threatening  to  be  found  for  the  first  day  as  the 


72        PRETENTIONS  TO  A  DIVINE  INSTITUTION  OF 

weekly  Sabbath  in  the  place  of  the  seventh.  So 
that  there  is  no  foundation  to  build  your  faith  upon. 
Therefore  the  cause  of  the  first  day,  as  the  w^eekly 
Sabbath,  not  having  the  Scripture  for  the  proving 
of  it,  cannot  stand  in  the  judgment.  Notwithstanding 
the  misinterjireted  Scripture  which  youalledge  in  its 
defence,  it  requires  much  arguing  to  defend  it.  It 
is  much  like  the  artifice  of  the  present  age  to  darken 
and  obscure  some  particular  places  of  Scripture, 
either  by  corrupt  translations,  or  by  false  interpret- 
ations, upon  which  they  ground  their  wrong  infer- 
ences and  conjectural  consequences,  and  then 
persuade  the  people  how  deep  these  things  do  lie, 
and  how  much  they  need  and  should  lean  upon  the 
wisdom  and  advice  of  their  church  guides,  who 
much  study  human  histories  for  them,  to  enable 
them  to  lead  them  through  the  mist  and  darkness 
into"  which  these  blind  guides  have  in  like  manner 
themselves  been  led.  Whereas  the  Scriptures 
about  the  weekly  Sabbath  are  full  of  light,  and 
of  satisfying  evidence,  to  those  who  are  made 
thoroughly  willing  to  do  the  acceptable  will  of  God. 
What  conviction  can  there  be  brought  to  the  under- 
standing concerning  any  change  of  the  weekly  Sab- 
bath day  from  the  seventh  to  the  first  day  of  the 
week,  from  passages  where  no  such  thing  as  a 
change  is  either  expressed  or  implied,  and  where 
the  reader  cannot  find  the  first  day  spoken  of,  or 
hinted  at,  to  any  such  purpose  1 

Mr.  Ward  brings  Ps.  118:  24,  for  the  institution 
of  his  first-day  Sabbath,  saying,  "  This  is  the  day 
the  Lord  hath  made,  let  us  be  glad  and  rejoice  in 
it."  But  here  no  particular  day  of  the  week  is 
mentioned;  so  that  for  him  to  say  it  means  the  first 
day  of  the  week,  hath  no  other  proof  than  his  own 
assertion.  David,  rejected  of  Saul  and  of  the 
people,  at  the  time  appointed  obtained  the  kingdom, 

i 


SUNDAY     EXAMINED.  73 

for  which  he  bidJeth  them  that  fear  the  Lord  to  be 
thankful,  and  rejoice  under  his  person.  In  all  this 
was  Christ  lively  set  forth,  who  should  be  rejected 
of  his  people.  God,  by  making  David  king,  showed 
his  mercy  toward  his  afflicted  church.  David  doth 
not  only  thank  God,  but  doth  exhort  all  the  people 
to  do  the  same.  We  are  hereby  taught,  that  the 
more  troubles  oppress  us,  the  more  ought  we  to  be 
instant  in  prayer.  Though  Saul  and  the  chief 
powers  refused  David  to  be  king,  yet  God  hath  pre- 
ferred him  above  them  all;  wherein  God  hath 
shown  chiefly  his  mercy,  by  appointing  David 
king,  and  delivering  his  church.  The  people  pray 
and  rejoice  for  the  prosperity  of  David's  kingdom, 
who  was  a  figure  of  Christ. 

Again,  by  day  in  this  Psalm  is  not  necessarily 
understood  a  short  ordinary  day  of  twelve  or 
twenty-four  hours,  but  rather  a  long  space  of  time, 
as  all  the  time  after  David  came  to  the  crown. 
And  so  it  may  be  applied  to  typify  the  whole  time 
of  Christ  upon  the  earth,  ruling  as  King  in  the 
kingdom  of  his  church.  Thus  Abraham  rejoiced 
to  see  Christ's  day.  John  8 :  5Q.  Thus  it  is  called 
the  day  of  salvation.  2  Cor.  6:  2.  If  then  by  day 
here  be  meant  the  day  of  grace,  or  the  time  of 
Christ's  abode  on  the  earth,  there  is  no  footing  for 
a  Sabbath  day  of  twelve  or  twenty-four  hours  long. 
But  the  day  mentioned  in  Ps.  118 :  24,  I  rather  take 
to  be  the  time  of  preaching  and  promulgating  the 
Gospel  of  Christ;  and  the  resurrection  of  Christ, 
did  plainly  declare  him  to  be  the  true  Messiah,  and 
Saviour  of  all  that  believe  in  him.  But  to  grant 
upon  this  place  any  thing  of  an  institution  of  a  new 
weekly  Sabbath,  or  of  repealing  the  seventh  day,  I 
take  to  be  a  mere  conjecture,  which  hath  no  found- 
ation but  in  the  fancy,  because  David  never  kept 
the  first  but  the  seventh  day. 
7 


74  DIVINE  INSTITUTION  OF  SUNDAY. 

But  the  text  saith,  We  will  rejoice  and  be  glad  in 
it;  referring  to  David  himself,  as  w^ell  as  others, 
when  he  had  overcome  his  enemies,  and  was  made 
king.  In  what  doth  this  bind  us  to  keep  the  day, 
even  if  it  should  be  meant  of  the  first  day  of  the 
week  1  May  not  one  day  in  a  year  observed  suffice 
to  fulfill  it,  seeing  there  is  not  such  a  word  as  we 
will  rejoice  and  be  glad  in  it  weekly] 

Indeed  these  arguments  seem  to  be  poor  grounds 
for  the  Sabbath  changers.  Therefore,  whoever  you 
are  that  keep  the  first  day  for  a  Sabbath,  or  Lord's 
day  as  you  call  it,  upon  these  grounds,  I  am  afraid 
you  must  do  as  many  are  forced  to  do  at  this  day; 
the  light  shining  so  clear,  to  the  discovering  of  their 
supposed  Scripture  grounds,  and  seeing  them  fail, 
they  are  forced  to  run  to  traditions  of  the  fathers, 
and  so  bring  themselves  under  the  rebuke  of  Jesus 
Christ,  Why  do  ye  make  void  the  commands  of 
Grod  through  your  traditions? — whom  he  calls 
hypocrites,  drawing  nigh  to  God  with  their  lips, 
while  their  hearts  are  far  from  him.  Matt.  15:  8, 
14;  Mark  7:  7,  8.  Let  such  consider  these  Scrip- 
tures; Neh.  13:  15—18;  Ezek.  20:  18;  1  Peter 
1 :  IS.  Their  fathers  broke  the  Sabbath,  and  it 
was  a  vain  conversation  which  they  received  by 
tradition  from  their  fathers. 

Others  think  the  day  mentioned  in  Ps.  118:  24, 
to  be  the  incarnation  day;  either  of  which  conceits, 
if  I  could  but  find  some  where  written  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, I  hope  I  should  believe.  But  finding  none 
of  these  written,  to  me  they  do  but  seem  to  prove 
the  shifts  and  windings  some  are  driven  to  use  to 
patch  up  some  such  fancies.  If  Mr.  Ward  were 
in  Turkey,  he  could  prove  as  good  a  divine  institu- 
tion for  the  sixth  day,  which  the  Turks  keep,  by 
this  Psalm,  as  he  can  do  for  the  first,  for  there  is 
no  particular  day  named. 


OHAPTER  VII. 

Mr.  ^Vai-cl,  failing  to  prove  liis  position  by  the  Word  of  God, 
receives  help  from  other  sources,  or  from  Profane  History. 

Though  Mr.  Ward  cannot  prove  a  divine  in- 
stitution for  the  first-day  Sabbath  in  the  holy  Scrip- 
tures, yet,  to  do  him  a  kindness,  I  can  show  him 
three  or  four  authorities  showing  its  human  institu- 
tion, which  he  may  like  as  well.  The  first  is  the 
Emperor  Constantine,  who  was  born  in  the  parish 
of  All  Saints,  in  Colchester  Castle,  in  Essex,  Eng., 
as  historians  tell  us.  He  enacted  that  the  first  day  of 
the  week  should  be  kept  instead  of  the  Sabbath; 
and  almost  all  Christendom  do  observe  the  same 
by  the  law  of  the  land  since  his  reign,  but  not 
for  the  three  hundred  and  twenty  years  before. 
Thus  man  took  upon  him  to  be  more  spiritual  than 
his  Maker.  It  was  accomplished  in  this  manner. 
About  that  time  some  began  to  be  infected  with 
Origoi's  allegorical  divinity,  taking  liberty  to  pro- 
fane the  seventli  day  under  pretence  of  keeping  a 
mystical  Sabbath,  by  ceasing  from  sin,  while  they 
lived  in  the  manifest  sin  of  slio^hting  the  Sabbath ; 
so  that  the  mystery  of  iniquity  got  established  or 
strengthened  by  this  mystical  notion,  thus  preparing 
the  way  for  the  rising  of  the  presumptuous  little 
horn  to  change  times  and  laws,  (Dan.  7,)  till  at  last 
he  prevailed  with  the  Emperor  to  establish  the  first 
day  of  the  week,  by  a  decree,  for  the  great  holy  day, 
and  to  appoint  a  set  form  of  Latin  prayers  to  be 
used  upon  it. 

Eusehias,  in  his  fourth  book,  chaps.  17,  18,  of 
the  Life  of  Constantine,  says  of  him,  that  he 
appointed  the   Lord's   day,   as   they  were  pleased 


76  THE    TESTIMONY 

to  call  it,  that  it  should  be  consecrated  to  prayers. 
And  a  little  farther  on  he  saith,  By  his  example 
(meaning  Constantine,)  they  learned  to  observe 
the  first  day.  Let  the  Christian  reader  observe 
this  passage,  they  learned  to  observe  it  of  him ;  and 
if  they  learned  it  of  him,  then  they  kept  it  not  be- 
fore. And  a  little  after,  in  the  same  chapter, 
Eusehius  saith,  Constantine  commanded  that 
throughout  all  the  Roman  Empire  they  should  for- 
bear to  labor  or  do  any  work  upon  the  first  day. 
And  in  chap.  23d  of  the  same  book  he  writes  thus : 
'*  The  Emperor  sent  an  edict  to  all  governors  of  his 
provinces,  that  they  should  forthwith — [note,  forth- 
with, a  sign  that  it  was  not  observed  before] — ob- 
serve the  first  day;  that  they  should  honor  the 
days  consecrated  to  the  memory  of  martyrs,  and 
solemnly  observe  the  feasts  of  the  church."  Let 
it  be  noted  here  also,  how  that  with  the  first  day's 
observation,  came  in  the  observation  of  feasts  of 
the  church,  and  their  holy  days  so  called,  con- 
secrated to  the  memory  of  martyrs.  And  farther 
he  saith,  that  all  was  performed  according  to  the 
Emperor's  command.  This  is  to  be  specially  noted, 
that  all  was  performed — the  first  day's  observation 
as  well  as  the  rest — all  according  to  the  Emperor's 
command.  Euselius  doth  not  say  it  was  performed 
according  to  the  command  of  God,  but  according 
to  the  command  of  the  Emperor!  Here  is  the 
command  of  man,  and  not  of  God!  Here  is  the 
bottom  of  the  first  day  observation  in  the  Christian 
church ! 

We  are  yet  to  consider  further  in  this  matter, 
that  though  he  did  endeavor  to  bring  it  in,  it  was 
not  brought  in  after  the  manner  that  it  is  now  kept; 
for  he  allowed  working,  huntings,  markets,  and 
fairs,  upon  the  day,  if  occasion  required;  as  did 
also  the  kings  of  England,  who,  near  one  thousand 


OF  PROFANE  HISTORY.  77 

years  after,  gave  forth  decrees  for  its  observation. 
There  are  many  authors  who  say  this. 

1st.  I  quote  Henry  Bullinger,  who,  in  his  Treatise 
to  King  Edward  the  Sixth,  ia  pages  143,  144,  speaks 
of  Constantine's  decree  thus,  "Let  all  judges  in 
the  courts  of  law,  and  citizens  of  occupations,  rest 
upon  the  Sunday,  and  keep  it  holy,  with  reverence 
and  devotion;  but  they  that  inhabit  the  country  may 
freely  and  at  liberty  attend  on  their  tillage."  And 
he  proposes  a  reason  thus,  "For  oftentimes  it  falleth 
out,  that  they  cannot  upon  another  day  so  commodi- 
ously  sow  their  seed,  or  plant  their  vines ;  and  by 
letting  pass  the  opportunity  of  a  little  time,  they 
may  hap  to  lose  the  profit  given  them  of  God  for 
their  provision."  And  in  page  140,  he  saith,  "We 
do  not  find  in  any  part  of  the  a^^ostles'  writings  any 
mention  made  that  the  Sunday  was  commanded  us 
to  be  kept  holy."  Thus  far  Bullinger  ingenuously 
acknowledged,  a  thing  very  worthy  of  commend- 
ation. 

2d.  And  so  speaks  J«?7m  TFcZZe^m*,  in  his  Abridg- 
ment of  Christian  Divinity,  page  307,  concerning 
Constantine,  that  he  permitted  husbandmen  to  fol- 
low their  work. 

3d,  Fox,  in  his  Acts  and  Monuments,  vol.  1,  page 
134,  saith  of  Constantine,  that  he  commanded  the 
Sunday  to  be  kept.  Hence  it  plainly  appears,  that 
they  worked  and  labored  on  the  first  day  down  to 
Constantine's  time,  which  shows  that  it  was  not 
kept  by  Christ,  nor  his  apostles,  as  Mr.  Ward  would 
make  us  believe.  If  it  had  been  a  command  of  God, 
no  man  would  have  dared  to  have  given  men  liberty 
to  work ;  but  in  that  they  brought  it  in  themselves, 
they  might  direct  in  the  manner  of  its  observation. 
Hence  it  appears,  that  they  kept  their  markets  and 
fairs  on  the  first  day,  till  by  his  command  they  were 
hindered. 

7* 


78  THE    TESTIMONY 

4tli.  Richard  Baker ^  in  his  Chronicles  of  the  Kings 
of  England,  page  17,  concerning  King  Canutus, 
saith  that  he  forbad  all  public  fairs,  markets,  hunt- 
ing, and  all  secular  actions,  unless  some  urgent  ne- 
cessity required.  And  in  his  Index,  or  Table,  he 
saith,  that  this  was  the  first  keeping  of  Sunday,  i.  e. 
first  in  England,  meaning  the  first  bringing  up  of  it 
to  some  maturity.  There  were  commands  of  the 
same  nature  before,  as  of  King  Inas,  who  reigned 
about  the  year  712;  which  is  the  first  I  can  meet 
with  that  gave  commandment  in  England  touching 
its  observation.  And  this  is  recorded  in  Fox's  Acts 
and  Monuments,  page  1016.  Also  he  makes  men- 
tion of  Gunthrum,  the  Danish  King,  to  the  same 
purpose ;  and  of  Edgar,  who  began  his  reign  about 
the  year  959,  that  among  other  ecclesiastical  laws, 
he  ordained  that  the  Sabbath  should  be  kept  from 
Saturday  noon  until  Monday  morning.  And  so  it  has 
come  to  pass,  from  his  ordaining  the  Sabbath  to  be 
kept  from  Saturday  noon,  that  children  go  to  school 
buthalf  a  dayon  Saturday.  He  ordained  and  decreed 
concerning  the  liberty  and  freedom  of  the  church, 
for  tithes  also,  and  first  fruits  of  corn,  and  paying 
of  Peter's  pence.  And  King  Canutus,  when  he* 
began  to  reign  in  England,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
1016,  also  commanded  the  celebration  of  the  Sab- 
bath from  Saturday  noon  till  Monday  morning,  as 
Edgar  had  done  before,  forbidding  markets,  labor, 
hunting,  and  holding  or  sitting  of  courts  during  the 
said  space  of  time.  See  Foz's  Acts  and  Monu- 
ments, page  1017.  So,  though  there  had  been  sev- 
eral commands  concerning  the  first  day's  observa- 
tion before  Canutus'  time,  yet  it  came  not  to  any 
ripeness  till  his  command  came  forth,  which  was 
not  seven  hundred  and  twenty  years  ago;  and  upon 
this  account  it  was,  as  I  conceive,  that  Sir  Richard 
Baker  said  it  was  the  first  of  its  being  kept  holy. 


OF  PROFANE  HISTORY.  79 

And  thus  also,  Speed,  in  his  Chronicles,  speaks  oi 
King  Canutus,  that  he  forbad  labor,  except  necessi- 
ty required. 

5th,  Socrates,  in  his  Ecclesiastical  History,  in  the 
oth  book,  chap.  21,  shows  that  the  Sabbath,  as  it 
relates  to  the  seventh  day,  was  kept  for  several 
hundred  years  after  Christ;  and  though  in  his  time, 
Sunday  observation  was  with  some  a  little  crept  in, 
yet  he  reckons  it  but  a  tradition.  His  words  are 
these,  *'  Touching  the  communion  there  are  sundry 
observations  and  customs,  for  though  in  a  manner 
almost  all  the  churches  throughout  the  whole  world 
do  celebrate  and  receive  the  holy  mysteries  every 
Sabbath  day  after  other,  yet  the  people  inhabiting 
Alexandria  and  Rome  do  not  use  it.  The  Egyptians 
adjoining  to  Alexandria,  together  with  the  inhab- 
itants of  Thebes,  of  a  tradition,  do  celebrate  the 
communion  on  Sunday."  Whence  we  may  observe, 
1st.  That  up  to  this  time,  which  was  four  hundred 
years  and  more  after  Christ,  the  Sabbath  was  ob- 
served almost  throughout  the  whole  world ;  and 
that  it  was  the  seventh-day  Sabbath,  will  appear 
if  we  consider  that  it  is  distinctly  distinguished 
from  the  first  day.  2d.  He  himself  reckons  the  first 
day's  observation  but  a  tradition.  In  his  6th  book, 
chap.  8,  he  speaks  thus,  "  When  the  festival  meet- 
ing throughout  every  week  was  come,  I  mean  the 
Saturday  and  the  Sunday,  upon  which  the  Christians 
are  wont  to  meet  solemnly  in  the  church."  And 
upon  this  passage  we  find,  by  what  was  before  noted, 
that  they  esteemed  and  called  the  seventh  day  the 
Sabbath,   and   the    first    day   practice    a    tradition. 

From  all  that  has  been  said,  we  may  observe,  that 
first  day  observation  was  brought  in  with  much  ado, 
and  that  in  those  decrees  of  men  enforcing  its  ob- 
servation there  was  allowed  liberty  to  labor  on  the 
first  day.     So  that  it  doth  appear  plainly  from  these 


80  THE    TESTIMONY 

quotations,  that  it  was  not  intended  to  be  kept,  when 
first  brought  in,  as  now  it  is  observed,  but  that  it 
is  a  tradition  established  and  made  sacred  only  by 
a  long  standing  custom. 

We  may  remark,  that  this  kind  of  observation 
did  not  at  first  produce  a  slighting,  or  at  least  such 
a  slighting,  of  the  Sabbath,  as  hath  since  through 
long  custom  followed.  For  almost  the  whole  world 
kept  to  the  Lord's  Sabbath,  and  celebrated  the 
holy  mysteries  upon  it,  after  these  beginnings  of  the 
first  day's  observation,  as  I  have  already  noted  out 
of  Socrates.  For  the  8th  chapter  of  his  6th  book 
extends  down  to  four  hundred  and  forty  years  after 
Christ;  and  Constantine  reigned  about  the  year 
three  hundred  and  twenty.  So  that  at  first  it  was 
not  even  a  slighting  of  the  Lord's  holy  seventh-day 
Sabbath ;  for  that  Sabbath  was  kept  in  the  church, 
with  the  first  day,  for  several  hundred  years. 

As  we  find  by  whom,  and  in  what  manner,  the 
first  day  observation  came  in,  so  we  may  see  ichy  it 
was  brought  in,  which  was  from  some  high  hatred 
against  the  Jews,  whom  they  were  very  apt  to  re- 
gard as  worthy  of  all  contempt  on  the  charge  of 
crucifying  Christ.  Whether  it  be  right  to  change 
a  moral  and  perpetual  command  of  God,  binding 
all  men  in  all  ages,  for  such  a  purpose,  let  the  pro- 
fessed Christian  judge.  I  find  that  this  hatred  be- 
gan to  be  very  high  even  in  Constantino's  time,  as 
may  be  observed  in  Eusehius^  History  of  the  Life 
of  Constantine,  where  it  is  said  of  him,  that  he 
made  a  law  that  no  Christian  should  serve  a  Jew; 
esteeming  it  a  wicked  thing  that  they  who  had  slain 
the  prophets,  and  cruelly  put  to  death  our  Lord 
and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  should  hold  and  keep  in 
subjection  those  who  were  redeemed  with  the  blood 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour.  And  if  any  one  lived 
already  in  that  servile  condition  that  he  should  be 


OF  PROFANE    HISTORY.  SI 

released,  and  the  Jew  fined.  From  this  kind  of 
hatred  did  the  change  of  the  Sabbath  come;  and 
as  was  the  tree,  so  is  the  fruit.  But  how  contrary 
this  was  to  the  apostles'  frame  and  temper,  may  be 
observed  by  comparing  these  things  with  Rom.  9. 
I  am  not  about  to  clear  the  Jews;  but  the  Gentiles, 
havinq^  a  deep  hand  in  the  thing,  are  to  be  charged 
as  well  as  they.     Matt.  20:   19;  Acts  4:  27. 

Again,  as  the  change  of  the  Sabbath  to  the  first 
day  of  the  week  was  chiefly  done  to  raise  a  wall  of 
partition  betwixt  the  Gentiles  and  Jews,  as  hath 
been  shown,  so  we  hope  that  the  pulling  down  of 
that  wall  will  be  a  preparative  to  the  accomplishing 
ofthose  glorious  prophesies,  which  hold  forth  the 
unity  which  shall  exist  between  Jew  and  Gentile, 
as  our  Saviour  hath  foretold  in  John  10:  16;  as 
aslo  the  Apostle  Paul,  in  Rom.  11 :  7,  2o,  26 ;  which 
surely  ought  to  be  the  earnest  desire  of  all  the  peo- 
ple of  God,  and  especially  of  such  as  are  in  a 
waiting  posture  to  see  the  fulfilling  thereof;  and 
most  of  all,  by  such  as  profess  themselves  to  be  the 
rulers  and  pastors  of  such  a  people,  as  Mr.  Ward 
and  the  clergy  of  the  nation  account  themselves  to  be. 

The  Jews  make  it  an  ai'gument  that  Christ  is  not 
the  Messiah,  because  Christians,  who  profess  to  be 
his  followers,  are  Sabbath-breakers,  concluding 
from  thence,  that  Christ  himself  was  a  Sabbath- 
breaker.  And  if  so,  they  ask,  what  benefit  can  we 
expect  by  the  death  of  an  evil-doer?  Thus  you 
may  see  what  evil  consequences  follow  the  non-ob- 
servance of  the  Lord's  holy  Sabbath. 

Bitiius  says,  (Councils,  book  3,  last  jDart,  p.  1448,) 
that  a  council  was  celebrated  in  Scotland  about  the 
first  bringing  in  of  the  dominical  day,  which  some 
now  call  the  Lord's  day,  or  Sunday,  but  he  calls  it 
the  dominical  day.  This  council,  he  says,  was  hehl 
A.  D.  1203,  in  the  time  of  Pope  Innocent  the  Third. 


82  THE  TESTIMONY  OF  PROFANE  HISTORY. 

See  Roger  Hoveden,  whom  Binius  quotes,  page  1202, 
and  Matthew  Paris'  old  impression,  pp.  192,  193, 
and  Lucius'  Ecclesiastical  History,  a  work  which  he 
gathered  out  of  the  oldest  and  best  writers,  printed 
at  Basil  in  1624. 

Lucius,  (Century  13,  p.  264,)  says  of  the  domini- 
cal day,  that  in  a  certain  council  in  Scotland,  it  was 
enacted  that  it  should  be  kept,  beginning  from  the 
twelfth  hour  on  Saturday  noon  till  Monday. 

BoBthius,  (lib.  13,  de  Scottis,  p.  357,)  says  that  in 
Scotland,  A.  D.  1203,  William,  King  of  Scotland, 
called  a  council  of  the  principal  of  his  kingdom. 
There  it  was  decreed  that  Saturday,  from  the 
twelfth  hour  at  noon,  should  be  holy,  and  that  they 
should  do  no  profane  work,  and  this  they  should 
observe  till  Monday. 

Roger  Hoveden  says  this  council  was  about  the 
observation  of  the  first  day.  There  came  also  a 
legate  from  the  pope,  with  a  sword  and  a  purple 
hat,  to  grant  indulgences  and  privileges  to  the 
young  king;  when  it  was  decreed,  that  the  seventh 
day,  from  the  twelfth  hour  at  noon,  should  be  holy 
— that  the  people  should  do  nothing  profane,  but 
apply  themselves  to  things  sacred — and  this  they 
should  do  even  until  the  second  day  morning  at  sun 
rising.  Bcetliius,  lib.  13,  de  Scotis,  788.  So,  as  I 
take  it,  here  are  these  witnesses  to  the  truth  of  this 
story — Roger  Hoveden,  Matthew  Paris,  Lucius,  and 
Bcethitis,  great  authorities  as  to  the  truth  of  the 
matter  of  fact.  The  first-day  Sabbath,  then,  stands 
without  any  Scripture  foundation,  but  upon  the 
same  ground  as  Easter,  Whitsuntide,  or  Christmas. 
It  is  no  great  wonder,  that  Mr.  Ward  should 
quarrel  so  with  the  Scripture  Sabbath,  seeing  he 
is  for  one  that  is  without  Scripture,  though  he 
fathers  it  there,  for  some  reasons  which  he  best 
knows.     But  the  Scriptures  being  altogether  silent 


DEVICES  TO  ESTABLISH  SUxXDAY  OBSERVATION.     83 

about  a  first-day  Sabbath,  he  flies  to  history,  and 
tells  us  that  Eusehius  says  the  first  day  was  called 
the  queen  of  days.  And  what  of  all  this  %  The 
same  history  makes  it  manifest  that  the  seventh  day 
was  reckoned  the  king  of  days,  or  the  chief  of 
days  for  holy  worship ;  and  in  a  manner  almost  all 
the  congregations  in  the  world  did  keep  the  seventh 
day  for  the  Sabbath,  as  hath  been  shown.  And 
Athana^us,  Bishop  of  Alexandria,  saith  that  they 
assembled  on  Saturday,  not  that  they  were  infected 
with  Judaism,  but  only  to  worship  Christ,  the  Lord 
of  the  Sabbath. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  arts  used  by  the  Papists  to  establish  the  obsei-vance  of  the 
first  day  of  the  week  in  England  and  Scotland. 

Now,  Mr.  Ward,  seeing  that  neither  the  holy 
Scriptures,  nor  the  histories  which  you  mentioned, 
will  afford  you  any  relief  or  any  thing  like  a  com- 
mandment for  observing  the  first  day  of  the  week 
for  a  Sabbath,  to  do  you  a  kindness,  and  to  help  you 
at  this  dead  lift,  and  also  to  show  you  what  spirit 
hath  been  at  work  to  make  a  Sabbath  for  you,  I 
will  produce  another  human  institution,  and  com- 
mandment for  its  observance.  It  is  from  Dr.  Hey- 
lyn's  History  of  the  Sabbath,  part  2,  pp.  221,  222 

Eustachius,  Abbot  of  Flay,  in  Normandy,  an  as- 
sociate of  'Fulco,  a  French  priest  and  notable  hypo- 
crite, who  had  lighted  on  a  new  Sabbatarian  fancy, 
was  sent  to  publish  it  here  in  England;  but  finding 


84  DEVICES    TO    ESTABLISH 

■opposition  to  his  doctrine,  he  went  back  again  the 
next  year,  being  1202.  He,  however,  soon  returned 
better  fortified,  preaching  from  town  to  town,  and 
from  place  to  place,  that  no  man  should  presume  to 
market  on  the  Lord's  day,  as  they  had  done  hereto- 
fore. Now,  for  the  easier  bringing  of  the  people 
to  obey  their  dictates,  they  had  to  show  a  warrant 
sent  from  God  himself,  as  they  gave  it  out,  the 
title  and  history  whereof  is  as  follows : —    . 

"An  holy  mandate  touching  the  Lord's  day,  which  came  down 
from  heaven,  unto  Jerusalem,  found  on  St.  Simeon's  altar,  in 
Golgotha,  where  Christ  was  cmcified  for  the  sins  of  all  the 
world;  which,  lying  there  for  tliree  days  and  as  many  nights, 
struck  with  such  terror  all  that  saw  it,  that  falling  on  the 
ground  they  besought  God's  mercy.  At  last  the  Patriarch  and 
Akarius  the  Archbishop,  ventured  to  take  mto  their  hands  the 
dreadful  letter,  whifih  was  written  thus: — 

'I  the  Lord,  who  commanded  you  that  ye  should  observe  the 
dominical  holy  day,  and  ye  have  not  kept  it,  and  ye  have  not  re- 
pented of  your  sins;  I  have  caused  repentance  to  be  preached 
unto  you,  and  ye  have  not  believed.  I  sent  pagans  against  you, 
who  shed  your  blood,  yet  ye  repented  not.  And  because  ye 
kept  not  the  day  holy,  for  a  few  days  ye  had  famine;  but  I  soon 
gave  you  plenty,  and  afterward  ye  did  worse.  I  will  again,  that 
none  from  the  ninth  hour  of  the  Sabbath — [so  the  Abbot  of  Flay 
still  called  the  seventh  day  the  Sabbath,  and  put  part  of  the  Sab- 
bath into  the  first  day,] — until  the  rising  of  the  sun  on  Monday, 
do  any  work,  unless  it  is  good;  which,  if  any  do,  let  him  amend 
by  repentance.  And  if  ye  be  not  obedient  to  this  command,  I  say 
unto  you,  and  I  swear  unto  you  by  my  seat  and  throne,  and 
cherubim,  who  keep  my  holy  seat,  that  I  will  not  command  you 
any  thmg  by  another  epistle,  but  I  will  open  the  heavens,  and  for 
rain  I  wdll  rain  upon  you  stones,  and  logs  of  wood,  and  hot  water 
by  night,  that  none  may  be  able  to  escape.  But  that  I  may  de- 
stroy all  wicked  men,  this  I  say  unto  you,  that  ye  shall  die  the 
death  because  of  the  dominical  holy  day,  and  other  festivals  of 
my  saints, — [so  the  saints'  days  are  hooked  in  also,] — which  ye 
have  not  kept ;  I  will  send  unto  you  beasts  having  the  heads  of 
lions,  the  hair  of  women,  the  tails  of  camels,  and  they  shall  be 
BO  hunger  star\"ed,  that  they  shall  devour  your  flesh,  and  ye  shall 
desire  to  flee  to  the  sepulchres  of  the  dead,  and  hide  you  for  fear 
of  the  beasts.  And  I  will  take  away  the  light  of  the  sim  from 
your  eyes;  and  I  will  send  upon  you  darkness,  that,  without  see- 


SUNDAY    OBSERVATION.  85 

iug,  ye  may  kill  one  another.  And  I  will  take  away  my  iace 
from  you,  and  I  will  not  show  you  mercy ;  for  I  will  bum  your 
bodies  and  hearts,  and  of  all  those  who  keep  not  the  dominical 
holy  day.  Hear  my  voice,  lest  ye  perish  in  the  land,  because 
of  the  dominical  holy  day.  Turn  from  evil,  and  be  penitent  for 
your  sins;  which  if  ye  do  not,  ye  shall  perish  as  Sodom  and 
Gomorrali.  Now  know  ye,  that  ye  are  safe  by  the  prayers  of 
my  most  holy  mother  Mary,  and  of  my  holy  angels  and  saints,  who 
daily  pray  for  you.  I  gave  you  corn  and  wine  abundantly,  and 
then  ye  did  not  obey  me ;  for  widows  and  orphans  daily  cry  imto 
you,  to  whom  you  do  no  mercy.  Pagans  have  mercy,  but  ye 
have  not.  The  trees,  wliich  bear  ffuit,  I  ^vill  make  to  dry  up 
for  your  sins ;  the  rivers  and  fountains  shall  not  yield  water.  I 
swear  to  you  by  my  right  hand,  that  unless  ye  keep  the  dominical 
day,  and  the  festivals  of  my  saints,  I  will  send  pagans  to  kill  you.' " 

There  is  more  of  this  wretched  stuff,  to  make  the 
people  believe  that  they  should  keep  the  first  day 
for  the  Sabbath.  Then  the  lord  Eustachius,  Abbot 
of  Flay,  came  to  York,  in  England;  and  being 
honorably  received  by  Galfred,  Archbishop  of  York, 
the  clergy,  and  the  people  of  that  city,  he  preached 
of  the  transgressing  of  the  dominical  day,  and  the 
other  festivals  or  holy  days.  He  gave  the  people 
repentance  and  absolution,  upon  condition  that  they 
hereafter  should  show  due  reverence  to  the  domin- 
ical day  and  other  festivals  of  the  saints,  not  doing 
in  them  any  servile  labor;  and  should  not  exercise 
or  keep  markets  of  vendibles  on  the  dominical  day, 
but  should  devoutly  employ  themselves  in  good 
works  and  prayers.  So  it  seems  that  the  people 
here  in  England  had  little  reverence  for  the  Sunday 
before  this,  or  other  holy  days. 

These  things  the  lord  Eustachius,  Abbot  of  Flay, 
constituted  to  be  observed  from  the  ninth  hour, 
i.  e.  our  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  of  the  sev- 
enth-day Sabbath,  until  the  rising  of  the  sun  on 
Monday.  And  the  people,  upon  his  preaching, 
vowed  to  God  that  they  hereafter  would  neither 
buy  nor  sell  any  thing  upon  the  dominical  day,  un- 
8 


86  DEVICES    TO    ESTABLISH 

less  perhaps  food  and  drink  to  such  as  passed  by. 
They  vowed  also,  that  of  all  things  which  they  sold 
of  the  value  of  five  shillings,  they  would  give  a 
fourth  part  to  buy  a  lamp  or  candle  for  the  church, 
and  for  the  burial  of  the  poor;  and  for  the  collect- 
ing of  this,  the  aforesaid  Abbot  ordained  to  be 
made  an  hollow  piece  of  wood  in  all  parish  churches, 
under  the  custody  of  two  or  three  faithful  men, 
where  the  people  should  cast  in  the  beforemention- 
ed  money.  He  ordained  also  that  an  alms-dish,  or 
platter,  should  be  daily  had  at  the  table  of  the  rich, 
in  which  they  should  send  part  of  their  meat  to  the 
use  of  those  who  were  indigent  and  poor,  who  had 
not  prepared  for  themselves;  which  was  a  very 
charitable  appointment.  The  same  abbot  ordained 
that  none  should  buy  or  sell  any  thing  in  churches, 
or  in  the  church  porch,  or  church  yard. 

The  foregoing  refers  to  England.  But  the  king, 
princes,  and  people  of  England,  were  then  against 
the  observing  of  Sunday,  and  would  not  agree  to 
change  the  Sabbath  or  keep  Sunday  by  this  com- 
mand. This  was,  I  think,  in  the  time  of  King  John, 
against  whom  the  Popish  clergy  had  a  great  pique 
and  quarrel,  as  not  favoring  their  prelacy  and  monks, 
by  one  of  whom  he  was  poisoned.  Scotland  did 
not  receive  the  change  until  A.  D.  1203. 

We  have  here  the  authority,  (and  for  matter  of 
fact  undeniable,  for  aught  that  I  know  or  can  find,) 
of  a  council  held  in  Scotland  for  initiating,  oi 
for  the  first  brins^ing  in  there  the  observation 
of  the  dominical  day,  i.  e.  the  first  day  of  the 
week  or  Sunday.  The  kingdom  of  Scotland  was 
Christian  very  early,  and  generally  received  the 
Christian  religion  about  A.  D.  435,  and  have 
this  honor,  that  they  were  one  of  the  last  in  this 
part  of  the  world  which  admitted  the  first  day  to 
be  kept  for  the  Sabbath ;  and  that  was  not  till  one 


SUNDAY    OBSERVATION.  87 

thousand  two  hundred  and  three  years  after  Christ. 
To  Binius,  BcBthius,  Hovcden,  and  Matthew  Paris, 
and  to  the  records  of  that  kingdom  of  Scotland, 
where  so  great  a  transaction  cannot  probably  be 
lost,  further  inquiries  are  referred. 

This  matter  of  fact  strikes  out  one  thousand  two 
hundred  and  three  years  in  the  kingdoms  of  Scot- 
land and  England,  from  the  seventeen  hundred  and 
twenty-one  years,  so  confidently  affirmed  by  Mr. 
Ward  concerning  the  first-day  Sabbath.  And  take 
one  thousand  two  hundred  and  three  out  of  seven- 
teen hundred  and  twenty-one,  and  there  remain  five 
hundred  and  eighteen  years — which  is  a  prescrip- 
tion much  too  modern  and  weak  to  alter  and  lay 
aside  the  ancient  established  law  of  God's  seventh- 
day  Sabbath.  I  may  safely  leave  any  one  to  make 
his  own  inferences  in  so  plain  a  case.  Although 
this  precedent  of  Eustachius  be  somewhat  modern, 
yet,  being  seconded  by  a  council,  and  that  transmit- 
ted and  published  to  the  world  in  one  of  the 
volumes  of  the  general  and  provincial  councils,  out 
of  which  it  is  translated;  and  this  passing  at  the 
initiating,  or  first  bringing  in  of  the  celebration  of 
the  first  day  of  the  week,  or  Sunday,  into  the  king- 
dom of  Scotland,  which  is  famous  for  having  the 
Gospel  early  preached  there,  and  in  this  as  famous, 
viz,  for  not  receiving  this  innovation  of  the  first  day 
so  soon  as  some  other  parts  of  the  world,  and  Eng- 
land being  then  much  of  the  same  mind,  as  before 
said — it  is  nevertheless  one  precedent  which  may 
serve  to  abate  what  is  printed  about  the  first  day, 
as  if  all  the  world  since  the  time  of  Christ  and  the 
apostles  had  observed  it,  and  as  if  the  Sabbath  ever 
since  had  been  universally  laid  aside. 

The  law  to  alter  the  seventh  day  to  the  first,  as 
you  may  see  before  in  the  collections  out  of  the 
Centuries,   was    by   the   Bishops   of   Rome,    who. 


88  DEVICES    TO    ESTABLISH 

thouo-li  they  pretend  to  dispense  laws  to  the  church, 
yet  they  ought  not  to  alter  the  law  of  God  in  any 
point  or  by  any  authority,  but  what  is  equal  to  that 
which  enacted  it.  No  Pope  or  any  man  on  earth 
ought  to  pretend  to  an  authority  equal  to  the  au- 
thority of  God.  So  if  there  be  no  divine  precept 
for  any  other  than  the  seventh  day,  then  it  is  cer- 
tain that  no  decrees  of  popes,  or  councils,  or  any 
tradition,  can  be  of  any  force  to  alter  the  law  which 
God  hath  declared  to  be  his  law;  that  disputes 
against  it  are  intolerable;  and  that  it  is. impeaching 
the  wisdom  of  God  to  make  an  alteration  in  his 
precepts. 

That  no  man  ought  to  alter  God's  laws,  I  think 
has  been  agreed  by  all  the  great  Protestant  writers. 
The  reason  is  evident;  the  laws  of  God  are  above 
them  all.  "  The  wise  in  heart  will  receive  the  com- 
mandments, but  a  prating  fool  shall  fall."  Prov.  10 ; 
8.  It  may  be  that  Mr.  Ward  secretly  wishes,  that 
this  fourth  commandment  for  keeping  holy  the  sev- 
enth day  were  not  so  plain,  or  that  he  could  some- 
where hnd  it  altered  in  the  Scriptures;  because  so 
plain  a  commandment,  not  repealed  or  altered 
there,  and  so  confirmed  by  Christ  and  his  apostles, 
faces  his  conscience,  answers  all  objections,  and 
throws  down  all  the  batteries  raised  against  it.  He 
would  fain  find  some  plausible  objection  to  shelter 
himself  in  a  continual  violation  of  it;  but  still  the 
law  rises  up,  and  overthrows  all  his  opposition. 
Indeed,  it  seems  to  me  marvelous,  that  the  observ- 
ation of  the  weekly  seventh-day  Sabbath  should  be 
so  long  laid  aside  here  in  a  land  of  light,  notwith- 
standing so  direct  and  plain  a  command,  and  that 
the  first  day  should  so  far  obtain,  for  which  they 
have  so  little  to  say.  Some  at  first  by  subtilty  have 
put  all  their  wits  and  strength  to  defend  it,  and  have 
blown  up  their  opinions   to    a   wonderful   height, 


SUNDAY    OBSERVATION.  89 

which   God   by   his    word    can  easily  take    down 
again. 

For  the  present,  some  have  altered,  and  in  part 
abrogated  this  old  command,  and  set  up  a  contrary 
one  in  its  stead,  and  so  do  become  in  this  not  God's 
subjects,  but  his  law-givers,  as  if  they  could  make 
a  more  holy  and  righteous  law  than  the  law  of  God. 
Have  they  not  so  far  forsaken  God's  law,  and  walk- 
ed after  the  imagination  of  their  own  hearts'?  Jer. 
9:  14.  How  unreasonable  is  this,  to  impose  a  law 
upon  God,  and  force  him,  at  the  same  time,  to  re- 
voke his  own?  And  how  their  endeavor  to  impose 
this  law  for  the  first  day  on  the  universal  church, 
can  be  excused  from  being  a  high  usurpation  of  the 
divine  authority,  and  from  accusing  God  as  if  he 
had  not  sufficiently  done  his  work,  I  know  not. 
Whatsoever  some  men  urge  for  obedience  to  their 
inventions,  I  cannot  imagine  that  they  think  any 
shall  be  condemned  or  blamed  by  the  Lord  at  last 
for  not  doing  what  he  hath  not  required  in  his  Word; 
or  that  they  would  have  us  live  by  the  rules  of  tra- 
dition, when  they  know  and  acknowledge  that  we 
must  be  judged  by  another  rule,  viz.  by  the  Word. 
That  the  Word  of  God  which  we  have  is  the  rule 
by  which  all  worship,  doctrines,  conversation,  dis- 
cipline, and  all  mankind,  are  to  be  tried  in  this 
world,  and  shall  be  judged  at  last,  I  take  to  be  the 
great  Christian  principle;  which,  as  far  as  I  can 
recollect,  is  generally  allowed  by  all  Protestants 
that  I  have  known  or  read  of  in  the  world.  But 
some  men,  under  the  color  of  tradition,  usurp  the 
divine  authority  against  the  commands  of  God. 
Some  write  and  plead  for  what  is  forbidden  in  the 
second  command.  Others  break  in  upon  all  the 
commands ;  for  all  of  which,  men  may  easily  plead 
tradition,  as  in  all  ages  they  may  discover  some 
greater  or  less  transgressions  of  all  the  commands , 
8* 


90  DEVICES  TO  ESTABLISH  SUNDAY  OBSERVATION. 

which,  to  such  arguers,  are  historical  evidences  for 
justifying  such  practices. 

But  follow  no  man  farther  than  he  follows  Christ. 
There  is  no  principle  more  evident,  and  universally 
confessed  by  all  the  reformed  Christians,  than  thai 
whatever  Grod  commands  us,  in  his  worship  or  other- 
wise, that  we  are  to  do,  be  the  thing  great  or  small. 
When  men  can  bind  God's  promises  of  assistance 
to  their  inventions,  whether  they  be  days  or  any 
thing  else,  in  his  worship  or  otlrer  duties  of  men, 
then,  and  not  before,  they  may  appoint  a  new  day 
of  rest.  And  since  there  is  no  law,  nor  any  word, 
to  be  found  in  the  Scriptures,  which  do  most  cer- 
tainly contain  the  whole  and  perfect  duty  of  man, 
which  requires  the  keeping  holy  of  the  first  day  of 
the  week  for  the  Sabbath ;  and  since  there  is  not  one 
word  of  promise  made  to  the  observers  of  it,  nor  any 
promise  of  acceptance  from  the  Lord  for  any  per- 
son in  that  observation ;  and  since  there  is  not  one 
word  of  threatening  or  displeasure  there  against 
those  who  do  not  observe  it ;  how  can  it  be  proved 
by  Mr.  AVard,  or  any  other  man,  to  be  of  God. 
The  Bible  does  not  tell  us  one  word  that  repeals  or 
alters  the  fourth  commandment  in  any  jot  or  tittle; 
nor  of  any  power  there  given  to  any  that  are,  or 
ever  should  be,  in  the  world,  to  make  any  alteration 
therein.  And,  therefore,  unless  you  can  show  of 
persons  thus  authorized  by  God  himself,  it  would 
seem,  as  long  as  heaven  and  earth  abide,  to  be  thus 
unalterable,  and  that  the  seventh  day  is  the  true 
weekly  Christian  Sabbath,  and  ought  to  be  ob- 
served. 

As  for  tradition,  (so  far  as  I  can  gather  from  my 
small  stock  of  books,)  about  the  seventh-day  Sab- 
bath, when  the  observation  thereof  ended,  and 
about  the  first  day,  when  the  observation  thereof 
began  among  Christians — I  have  given  some  small 


THE  USE  OP  HEATHENISH  NAMES  CONSIDERED.     91 

account,  hoping  the  world  may  hereafter  have  a 
more  exact  account  thereof,  if  need  be,  from  some 
one  or  other  who  has  better  abilities,  a  better  library, 
and  more  youthful  strength  and  leisure,  whom  I 
pray  God  to  raise  up  in  my  stead. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


Tire  use  of  heathenish  names  considered. 

Mr.  Ward,  in  his  exposition,  considers  the  names 
of  our  days,  Sunday,  Monday,  Tuesday,  Wednesday, 
Thursday,  Friday,  Saturday;  being  now  the  known 
names  of  the  days,  he  thinks  we  need  no  more 
scruple  to  use  these  names  than  to  talk  of  Pope 
Pious  Clement.  To  this  I  reply,  from  one  of  his 
texts  in  Ex.  23:  13,  "Make  no  mention  of  the 
names  of  other  gods,  neither  let  them  be  heard  out 
of  your  mouth;"  which  refers  to  the  idol  names 
of  the  days  of  the  week,  and  proves  the  antiquity 
of  Sunday  from  the  heathen's  worshiping  the  sun 
as  their  god — the  sun  being  king,  and  the  moon 
being  queen.  Now  I  confess  that  causeless  scruples 
are  a  weakness,  but  a  true  conscientious  tenderness 
of  mind  not  to  offend  God  in  any  thing  wherein  his 
will  is  made  known  to  us  in  his  Word,  is,  as  I  think, 
one  of  the  most  excellent  things  in  man.  And  if 
Mr.  Ward,  under  this  notion  of  scruples,  thinks  to 
reflect  upon  conscientious  obedience  to  the  Word 
of  God,  or  any  part  thereof,  (which  I  hope  he  does 
not,)  he  will  be  much  to  blame.  God  having  so  ex- 
pressly forbidden  the  mention  of  the  names  of  idols, 


92  THE  USE  OF  HEATHENISH 

as  these  were  from  which  the  days  of  the  week  were 
called ;  he  having  also  repeatedly  given  us  in  his 
Word  the  proper  names,  the  First,  Second,  Third, 
Fourth,  Fifth,  Sixth,  and  Seventh  day,  which  seventh 
day  is  called  the  Sabbath  throughout  the  Scriptures ; 
I  make  no  scruple  to  call  the  days  of  the  week  by 
the  same  names  as  the  Lord  called  them ;  and  if 
Mr.  Ward  will  retain  the  old  idol  names  without 
any  scruple,  notwithstanding  his  own  acknowledg- 
ment whence  they  came,  and  notwithstanding  the 
plain  word  of  Cxod  against  them,  I  cannot  help  it. 
And  it  seems  to  me  that  the  most  subtile  of  those  who 
are  fond  of  holding  fast  the  idol  names  of  days,  do 
fear  the  consequence  of  laying  them  aside,  as  if  it 
might  by  degrees  restore  both  the  true  names  and 
the  Sabbath.     On  this  subject  Dr.  Owen  says: — 

"Among  Christians,  this  name,  viz.  Sunday,  was  not  in  com- 
mon use,  but  by  some  was  rejected,  as  were  also  the  rest  of  the 
names  of  the  days  used  among  the  pagans.  So  speaks  Augustine, 
wishing  that  Christians  did  not  call  the  days  as  pagans  do. 
Jerome  would  not  have  the  days  of  the  week  called  after  the 
idols  and  planets,  but  first  day,  second  day,  third  day,  fourth  day, 
fifth  day,  sixth  day,  seventh  day  or  Sabbath  day;  and  he  rejects 
the  use  of  the  ordinary  names  of  the  heathen.  Philastitius 
makes  the  usages  of  them  among  Christians  almost  heretical. 
The  popish  Rhemists,  on  Revelations  1:  10,  condemn  the  name 
of  Sunday  as  heathenish;  anl  Polidore  Virgil,  before  them, 
saith,  '  It  is  both  a  shame,  and  matter  of  great  lamentation,  that 
before  now  the  days  have  not  been  called  by  Cliristian  names, 
that  the  heathenish  gods  might  not  have  had  among  us  such  a 
standing  monument.'  Indeed,  among  sundry  of  the  ancients, 
there  occur  many  severe  expressions  against  the  use  of  the  common 
planetary  names;  and  at  the  first  reluxqulshment  of  heathenism, 
it  had  no  doubt  been  well,  if  these  names  of  Baal  had  been  taken 
away  out  of  the  mouths  of  men,  especially  considering  that  the 
retaining  of  them  hath  been  of  no  use  nor  advantage.  I  must 
add,  that  the  severe  afflictions,  and  contemptuous  reproaches, 
poured  out  against  them  who  abstain  from  using  them,  [the 
heathenish  names,]  argue  a  want  of  chanty;  since  certainly  there 
is  an  appearance  of  warranty  in  them  who  use  not  heathenish 
names,  sufficient  to  secure  them  from  contempt  and  reproach. 
For  it  is  given  as  the  v\rill  of  Grod.     Ex.  23 :  13 — "Make  no  men- 


NAMES    CONSIDERED.  93 

tion  of  the  names  of  other  gods,  neither  let  them  be  heard  out 
of  thy  mouth.'  And  it  cannot  be  denied,  that  the  names  of  the 
days  of  the  week  were  names  of  the  gods  among  the  heathen. 
The  prohibition  is  renewed  in  Josh.  23 :  7 — '  Make  no  mention 
of  the  names  of  their  gods,  nor  cause  to  swear  by  them,  neither 
sei-ve  them,  nor  bow  yourselves  mito  them;'  which  is  yet  extend- 
ed, in  Deut.  12:  3,  to  a  command  to  destroy  and  blot  out  the 
names  of  the  gods  of  tho  people,  wliich  by  this  means  are  re- 
tained. Accordingly  the  children  of  Reuben,  buildiag  cities, 
formerly  called  Nebo  and  Baalmeon,  changed  their  names,  be- 
cause they  were  the  names  of  the  heathen  idols.  Num.  32:  38. 
And  David  mentions  it  as  a  part  of  his  integrity,  that  he  would 
not  take  up  the  names  of  idol  gods  in  liis  lips.     JPs.  16 :  4." 

There  are  many  other  names  of  days  and  seasons, 
used  both  in  common  speech  and  writing,  to  be  re- 
jected by  all  good  Christians,  they  being  set  up  for 
these  three  wicked  ends,  chiefly — 1st.  To  uphold  the 
detestable  idol  of  the  Mass,  as  Lia.m-?nas  day, 
Michael-mas,  Christ- /?ias,  and  Candle-w«.?.  2d.  To 
give  God's  time  either  to  real  saints,  who  abhor- 
red such  things,  as  Jmnes-tide,  J^aviholomew-tide ; 
or  to  superstitious  saints,  who  never  had  a  being 
but  in  wicked  men's  brains,  as  Valentine 's-f^^y, 
George's  day.  3d.  To  encourage  people  in  hor- 
rid superstitious  observations  of  times;  as  Shrove- 
tide, Lent,  Easter,  Whitsuntide ;  which  they  call 
holy  days,  and  honor  them  more  than  the  Lord's 
seventh-day  Sabbath,  the  only  holy  day  of  God's 
appointing;  whereby  the  Lord's  time  is  justled  out 
to  bring  in  times  devised  by  wicked  men,  who  here- 
in are  like  Jeroboam,  the  son  of  Nebat,  who  sinned 
and  caused  Israel  to  sin.  1  Kings  12  :  32.  There- 
fore Christians  should  not  take  these  abominable 
names  in  their  mouths,  lest  they  learn  the  ways  and 
walk  after  the  customs  of  the  heathen  and  papists; 
which,  being  vain  and  abominable,  are  positively  for- 
bidden in  these  and  many  other  Scriptures,  as  in 
Ex.  23;  13,  "In  all  things  that  I  have  said  unto 
you  be  circumspect,  and  make  no  mention  of  the 


94     THE  USE  OF   HEATHENISH  \AMES  CONSIDERED. 

names  of  other  gods,  neither  let  them  be  heard  out 
of  thy  mouth."  In  Deut.  12 :  3,  God  expressly 
commands  his  people  to  destroy  the  names  of 
idols  out  of  their  land.  In  Josh.  23:  7,  this 
command  is  repeated,  "that  they  should  not  so 
much  as  make  mention  of  the  names  of  heathen 
gods."  In  Neh.  13:  24,25,  "The  chief  rulers 
vehemently  contended  with  such  as  spoke  half  in 
the  speech  of  Ashdod,  and  not  altogether  in  the 
language  of  the  people  of  God."  In  Ps.  16 :  4, 
David,  a  man  after  God's  own  heart,  declares,  "that 
he  would  not  take  up  the  names  of  other  gods  into 
his  lips."  In  Hosea  2 :  16,  17,  God  promised  to 
take  away  the  names  of  Baalim  from  the  mouths 
of  his  people,  and  that  they  should  no  more  be  re- 
membered by  their  names.  In  Zeph.  3 :  9,  "  Then 
will  I  turn  to  the  people  a  pure  language,  that  they 
may  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord,  to  serve  him 
with  one  consent."  In  Zach.  13:  1,  2,  God  prom- 
iseth,  when  his  people  are  washed  from  sin  by 
Christ  the  fountain  of  grace,  that  he  will  cut  off  the 
names  of  idols  out  of  their  land,  so  that  they  shall 
be  no  more  remembered.  In  1  Cor.  15 :  33,  "  Be 
not  deceived,  evil  communications  corrupt  good 
manners."  In  Eph.  4 :  29,  "  Let  no  corrupt  com- 
munication proceed  out  of  your  mouth."  In  Col. 
4:  Q,  "Let  your  speech  be  always  with  grace,  sea- 
soned with  salt,  that  ye  may  know  how  ye  ought 
to  answer  every  man."  In  Titus  2:  8,  "Use  sound 
speech  that  cannot  be  condemned,  that  he  who  is 
of  the  contrary  part  may  be  ashamed,  having  no 
evil  thing  to  say  of  you."  In  1  Peter  4:  11,  "If 
any  man  speak,  let  him  speak  as  the  oracles  of 
God;"  that  is,  Scripture  language.  And,  indeed, 
there  is  the  highest  reason  for  calling  the  days  of 
the  week,  and  the  months, by  Scripture  names  only; 
for  all  times  being  the  Lord's,  and  the  Lord  having 


TIME  OF  COMMENCING  THE   SABBATH.  95 

put  names  upon  his  own  times,  we  should  call  his 
times  by  no  other  names  than  those  which  he 
hath  given  them  in  his  holy  Word.  Hear  what 
Christ  speaks  in  Matt.  12 :  36,  37,  '*  But  I  say  unto 
you  that  every  idle  word  that  men  shall  speak,  they 
shall  give  account  thereof  in  the  day  of  judg- 
ment; for  by  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  justified,  and 
by  thy  words  thou  shalt  be  condemned."  There- 
fore keep  yourselves  from  idols. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Time  of  commencing  the  Sabbath. 

Mr.  Ward  would  make  the  day  to  begin  at  mid- 
night, and  to  end  at  midnight,  according  to  the  Ro- 
man  account,  and  not  according  to  the  Scriptures. 
Though  I  am  not  willing  to  contend  about  terms, 
what  is  the  natural,  and  what  the  artificial  day,  yet 
I  may  not  admit  the  days  of  the  week  to  be  any 
other  than  what  God  at  first  fixed  in  the  Scriptures ; 
that  is,  the  evening  and  the  morning.  It  is  true 
that  the  day,  as  distinguished  from  the  night,  begins 
in  the  morning  and  ends  in  the  evening;  and  the 
night,  or  darkness,  as  distinguished  from  day,  be- 
gins in  the  evening  and  ends  in  the  morning.  But 
the  whole  day  consisteth  of  evening  and  morning, 
that  is,  night  and  day;  and  we  find  in  Gen.  1:  3, 
that  when  light  was  created,  "God  divided  the  light 
from  the  darkness ;  and  God  called  the  light  day, 
and  the  darkness  he  called  night;  and  the  evening 
and  the  morning  were  the  first  day."     So  the  light 


96  TIME    OF    COMMENCING 

was  the  day,  and  the  darkness  the  night,  as  distin- 
guished from  one  another.  But  one  day,  or  the 
first  day  of  the  week,  consisted  of  evening  and 
morning,  that  is,  of  darkness  and  light,  which  was 
the  first  day;  and  so  the  evening  and  the  morning 
were  the  second  day;  and  the  evening  and  the 
morning  were  the  third  day;  and  the  evening  and 
the  morning  were  the  fourth  day;  and  the  evening 
and  the  morning  were  the  fifth  day;  and  the  eve- 
ning and  the  morning  were  the  sixth  day;  and  the 
seventh  day  God  rested,  or  sabbatized.  In  Gen. 
2 :  2,  3,  the  seventh  day  is  thrice  mentioned,  and 
God  blessed  the  seventh  day  and  sanctified  it,  or 
made  it  holy ;  which  making  it  holy,  I  think,  re- 
solves the  main  question  which  day  of  the  week 
should  be  kept  for  the  Sabbath,  consisting  of  eve- 
ning and  morning,  that  is,  of  darkness  and  light; 
and  so  beginning  in  the  evening,  and  ending  the 
evening  after,  is  the  plain  appointed  and  fixed  time 
for  the  Sabbath;  and  this  reckoning  of  days  is  ac- 
cording to  Scripture,  as  Mr.  Ward  acknowledges. 

As  to  the  time  when  the  Sabbath  doth  begin,  I 
conceive  that  it  is  not  to  be  at  midnight,  according 
to  the  reckoning  of  this  kingdom  and  the  Papists ; 
nor  at  noon,  as  the  Gipsies  count;  nor  in  the  morn- 
ing, as  others  reckon;  but  upon  the  evening  before, 
and  so  continue  to  the  evening  after,  as  the  Lord 
reckons  the  day  to  begin  and  end.  Gen.  1 :  5,  8, 
13,  19,  23,  31;  and  Gen.  2:  1 — 3.  I  can  no  where 
find  that  first  distribution  of  day  altered  by  God. 

But  while  they  are  confounded  in  their  language, 
like  Babel's  builders,  laboring  with  much  diflficulty 
to  find  seme  beginning  of  man's  Sabbath,  behold 
the  lively  oracle  of  God's  unchangeable  seventh- 
day  Sabbath,  opening  all  prison  doors,  breaking  all 
bars,  untying  all  knots,  making  it  manifest  that 
night  was  the  beginning  of  time,  before  any  light 


THE    SABBATH.  97 

appeared.  This  darkness,  with  the  ensuing  light, 
completed  the  first  day,  the  second  day,  third, 
fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  days,  wherein  the  Almighty 
finished  the  whole  fabric  of  heaven  and  earth.  And 
no  sooner  did  the  sixth  day's  sun  cease,  than 
Elohim  ceased  to  show  his  power  in  creation ;  and 
withdrawing  himself,  he  immediately  sanctified  the 
seventh  day  for  the  Sabbath,  delighting  himself  in 
the  pure  and  spotless  work  of  his  hands ;  for  as  yet 
sin  had  not  spoiled  the  creature.  But  while  Jeho- 
vah celebrated  his  Sabbath  with  man,  for  whom  it 
was  made,  "  lo  the  morninor  stars  sans:  too^ether,  and 
all  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy."  Job  38  :  7. 
So  that  here  the  Lord's  Sabbath,  without  the  least 
loss  of  time,  begins  exactly  when  the  sixth  day's 
sun  is  set,  and  the  world's  creation  ends.  There- 
fore such  as  desire  to  be  holy,  as  God  is  holy,  must 
not  only  observe  the  seventh-day  Sabbath,  but  begin 
this  holy  rest  as  God  commands;  that  is,  when  the 
sixth  day's  circuit  of  the  sun  shows  us  that  it  is 
time  to  cease  from  earthly  labors,  as  Jehovah  in  his 
royal  law  hath  proposed  himself  for  our  example. 
This  was  the  course  of  believers,  I  suppose  it  will 
scarcely  be  questioned,  in  Moses'  time;  since  even 
the  ceremonial  Sabbaths,  because  honored  as  Sab- 
baths, were  to  be  observed  from  even  unto  even.  So 
after  the  Jews  were  carried  to  Babylon  for  slighting 
the  Sabbath,  did  honest  Nehemiah  set  himself  to  en- 
force the  exact  observance  of  this  day,  by  causing 
Jerusalem's  gates  to  be  shut  before  the  Sabbath, 
even  whilst  the  declining  sixth  day's  sun,  by  de- 
scending on  the  mountains  surrounding  Jerusalem, 
cast  some  obscurity  upon  the  city  gates  : — a  good 
example  for  earthly  minds,  who  will  not  leave  their 
servile  labor  till  the  last  minute,  but  perhaps  allow 
themselves  liberty  to  do  some  household  business 
after  the  Sabbath's  beginning.  We  lie  under  equal 
9 


98  TIME  OF  COMMENCING    THE  SABliATH. 

engagements  at  least  with  ancient  Israel,  which 
should  oblige  us  to  such  evening  sacrifice,  as  ap- 
pears to  have  been  their  custom  by  that  Psalm  de- 
signed for  the  Sabbath — "It  is  a  good  thing  to  give 
thanks  unto  the  Lord,  and  to  praise  thy  name,  0 
Most  High ;  to  show  forth  thy  loving  kindness  in 
the  morning,  and  thy  faithfulness  every  night."  Ps. 
92:  1,  2.  This  sacrifice  very  well  becomes  Christ- 
ians; and  so  the  disciples  of  Christ  began  the  Sab- 
bath, and  so  the  Lord's  ancient  people  celebrate  the 
Sabbath,  So  that  it  is  abundantly  manifest,  that 
from  even  to  even  it  is  to  be  kept.  Thus  the  Jews 
constantly  observe  it;  and  thus  all  faithful  Christ- 
ians ought  to  sanctify  it,  who  by  Scripture  authori- 
ty are  set  free  from  all  that  confusion  and  conten- 
tion, which,  as  a  scourge  from  God,  perplexeth  the 
observers  of  their  supposed  first-day  Sabbath ;  foi 
they  know  not  when  to  begin,  nor  when  to  make  an 
end.  Thus  you  may  see  what  confusion  they  are 
in,  who  say  the  Sabbath  is  changed  from  the  sev- 
enth day  to  the  first,  and  yet  observe  neither,  but 
part  of  the  first  day  and  part  of  the  second.  For 
some  say  their  Sabbath  begins  at  midnight;  and 
some  say  it  begins  in  the  morning,  when  a  part  of 
the  first  day  is  spent;  and  they  end  at  midnight,  or 
in  the  morning,  when  part  of  the  second  day  is  spent. 
Yet  they  will  have  this  to  be  the  Sabbath. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Remarks  upon  the  argument  for  the  observance  of  the  first  day 
from  the  resuiTection  of  Christ  and  his  appearances  to  his 
disciples. 

If  God,  by  a  positive  moral  and  perpetual  com- 
mandment, dotli  bind  all  men  in  all  ages  to  such  a 
particular  seventh  day  as  himself  hath  appointed, 
then  either  Mr.  Ward  must  prove  that  God  hath 
made  his  moral  law  changeable  by  appointing  some 
other  day,  or  else  the  seventh-day  Sabbath  must  be 
restored  to  its  primitive  glory.  His  first  ground  for 
the  change  of  the  Sabbath  to  the  first  day  of  the 
week,  is  raised  from  Christ's  resurrection  and  ap- 
pearing to  his  disciples.  But  the  very  great  differ- 
ence between  the  Father's  example  at  the  world's 
creation,  and  the  Son's  action  at  the  resurrection, 
will  discover  soon  the  vanity  of  this  argument.  For 
at  the  world's  creation  God  did  sanctify  the  seventh 
day  for  his  Sabbath,  and  rested  on  it,  giving  us  an 
example  for  the  ground  of  our  obedience;  but  upon 
the  resurrection  there  is  not  the  least  syllable  of  a 
change,  institution,  sanctification,  or  celebration  of 
the  first  day.  Yea,  so  far  was  Christ  from  resting 
upon  the  day  of  his  resurrection,  that  he  traveled 
many  miles  upon  this  supposed  new  Sabbath,  not 
to  any  religious  meeting,  but  from  Jerusalem,  the 
place  where  most  of  his  disciples  were,  purposely 
joining  himself  with  the  two  disciples  that  were 
journeying  on  foot  seven  miles  and  a  half  into  the 
country.     Mark  16:   12;  Luke  24 :   13,15. 

Christians,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  awake,  and 
pollute  your  souls  no  longer  with  a  weekly  profana- 
tion of  the  Sabbath   upon   such  a  false  supposition 


100  THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST, 

as  a  change  at  Christ's  resuiTection !  You  see  that 
your  Creator  sanctified  his  seventh-day  Sabbath, 
and  rested  upon  it.  But  for  the  first  day,  you  have 
not  one  word  of  a  command  to  keep  it  as  a  Sab- 
bath ;  and  for  an  examj^le,  you  have  that  of  Christ 
to  work  on  it,  for  he  traveled,  with  tvv'o  of  his  dis- 
ciples, upon  their  private  occasion,  on  the  first  day 
of  the  week,  not  giving  them  the  least  admonition 
about  the  observation  of  the  first  day  for  the  Sab- 
bath ;  which  undoubtedly  he  would  have  done  as 
freely  as  in  other  things,  had  he  intended  the  first 
day  for  a  new  Sabbath. 

Now  I  beseech  you  consider,  whether  this  be 
likely,  that  Christ,  who  was  faithful  in  all  his  house, 
would  intend  the  first  day  for  a  Sabbath,  and  yet 
never  leave  one  word  of  command,  nor  any  exam- 
ple for  it  but  that  of  journeying  fifteen  miles.  Ob- 
serve, also,  that  upon  the  first  day  he  was  at  a  vil- 
lage called  Emmaus,  seven  miles  and  a  half  from 
Jerusalem,  when  it  was  towards  evening,  and  the 
day  far  spent.  Luke  24:  13,  29,  30.  After  which, 
he  supped  with  the  two  disciples,  which  took  up 
some  time.  Then  they  returned  that  seven  miles 
and  a  half  to  Jerusalem  on  foot.  So  that  if  the 
day  was  far  spent  before  they  entered  the  village, 
it  must  doubtless  be  quite  spent  before  they  could 
provide  and  eat  their  suppers,  and  return  seven 
miles  and  a  half  again.  Luke  24 :  32.  And  so, 
before  Christ  appeared  to  the  eleven,  the  first  day 
must  needs  be  past;  for  although  they  said  he  ap- 
peared the  first  day  at  even,  yet  they  must  have 
known  that  the  first  day  was  then  fully  ended,  as  it 
is  plain  that  the  Sabbath  was  ended  at  evening 
when  the  sun  did  set.  Besides,  this  journey  from 
Jerusalem  to  Emmaus,  and  back  again,  was  a  trav- 
eling journey,  being  three-score  furlongs.  Luke 
24:   13.      And   being  more   than    a  Sabbath-day's 


AND  HIS  APPEARANCES.  101 

journey,  (for  a  Sabbath-day's  journey  is  about  two 
miles  and  a  half,)  I  do  not  see  how  any  body  can 
make  that  journey  consistent  with  the  keeping  of 
the  first  day  for  a  Sabbath.  For  this  there  is  no 
institution,  or  command,  but  rather  the  contrary, 
since  their  traveling  upon  that  first  day  of  the  week, 
without  any  reproof  from  Christ,  seems  directly 
against  a  first-day  Sabbath. 

And  as  to  what  is  said  about  Christ's  appearing 
upon  several  first  days  of  the  week  to  his  disciples 
as  they  were  assembled,  I  believe,  upon  diligent 
search,  that  this  will  also  be  found  but  a  vain  flourish ; 
and  indeed,  that  he  never  appeared  to  any  as- 
sembly upon  any  one  first  day  according  to  the 
Scripture  account,  which  most  certainly  begins  the 
day  with  the  evening.  As  for  Christ's  second  ap- 
pearing to  the  disciples,  it  is  expressly  said,  that  it 
was  after  eight  days,  and  therefore  could  not  have 
been  on  the  next  first  day  of  the  week.  John  20  :  26. 
And  for  his  third  appearing  to  his  disciples,  surely 
Mr.  Ward  will  not  say,  that  it  was  on  the  first  day, 
seeing  they  were  at  their  trade  of  fishing.  John 
21:   1. 

Mr.  Ward  conceives  that  the  cause  of  the  first 
assembling  of  the  disciples  on  the  fii'st  day  of  the 
week,  was  to  celebrate  the  new  Sabbath  in  honor 
of  Christ's  resurrection;  whereas  they  were  so 
far  from  believing  that  Christ  was  risen,  that 
the  women's  tidings  thereof  seemed  to  them  as 
idle  tales.  Yea,  the  first  day  was  finished  before 
they  believed;  so  that  they  could  not  in  faith 
do  any  such  thing.  Mark  16:  14;  Luke  24: 
12.  But  here  it  is  evident  how  sadly  they  are  put 
to  it,  who  must  say  something  for  their  first-day 
Sabbath,  and  yet  can  say  nothing  better. 

Mr.  Ward  says,  Christ  appeared  to  his  disciples 
on  the  Lord's  day,  or  first  day  of  the  week,  being 
9* 


102  THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST, 

the  day  on  which  he  rose  from  the  dead,  and  the 
first  Lord's  day  was  a  Sabbath. 

Answer — 1st.  If  it  was  a  Sabbath,  yet  it  was  not 
so  by  the  fourth  commandment;  for  that  requires 
the  seventh  day.  Ex.20:  10.  But  Christ  appeared 
on  the  first  day  of  the  week.  The  text  saith,  that 
the  disciples  were  assembled  together  for  fear  of 
the  Jews,  not  that  it  was  to  keep  the  first  day  for 
a  Sabbath.  But  with  you  every  assembly  must 
be  a  Sabbath.  The  Scripture  saith,  Christ  appeared 
at  night,  the  doors  being  shut.  Our  question  is  not 
of  the  night,  but  of  the  day  or  day-time. 

2d.  If  every  day  wherein  Christ  appeared  to  his 
disciples  must  be  a  Sabbath  day,  then  a  fishing 
day  must  be  a  Sabbath  day;  for  Christ  appeared  to 
them  when  they  were  fishing  at  the  sea  of  Tiberias. 
John  21:4. 

3d.  Then  also,  in  Christ's  time,  they  had  forty 
Sabbaths  together;  for  he  was  seen  of  some  of  them 
for  forty  days.  Acts  1 :  3.  His  appearances,  there- 
fore, prove  not  any  thing  as  to  a  change  of  the  Sab- 
bath; so  this  first  day  of  the  week,  in  Christ's  time, 
was  no  Sabbath.  How  then  can  you  think  that  the 
churches  afterward  kept  the  first  day  for  the  Sab- 
bath] Were  they  more  holy  than  Christ]  If  they 
were,  it  was  but  a  superstitious  holiness. 

Mr.  Ward  says,  it  is  as  plain  as  that  two  times 
two  makes  four,  that  Christ  rose  from  the  dead  on 
the  first  day  of  the  week. 

To  this  I  answer,  that  as  plain  as  it  is,  by  all  the 
wit  and  learning  Mr.  Ward  has,  he  cannot  prove  it. 
Mary  came  when  it  was  yet  dark.  John  20:  1. 
That  it  was  before  day,  is  as  clear  as  the  sun.  Then 
said  the  angels,  "Why  seek  ye  the  living  among  the 
dead]  He  is  not  here,  but  is  risen."  Luke  24 : 
5,  6.     As  if   they  had  said,  Long  ago.     Had  Mary 


AND  HIS  APPEARANCES.  103 

come  at  midnight,  she  had  heard  the  same,  for  all 
you  know.  None  of  the  evangelists  tell  us  when 
Christ  rose.  There  had  been  a  great  earthquake ; 
for  the  angel  of  the  Lord  descended  and  rolled 
hack  the  stone,  and  for  fear  of  him  the  keepers  did 
shake,  and  became  as  dead  men,  (Mat.  28 :  2,  4,) 
but  were  now  revived  and  gone ;  for,  saith  Mary, 
"  They  have  taken  away  the  Lord  out  of  the  sepul- 
chre, and  we  know  not  where  they  hfive  laid  him." 
.John  20 :  2.  These  things  had  a  time  to  be  acted 
over;  but  how  long  it  had  transpired  before  Mary 
first  came,  which  was  still  before  day,  is  not  ex- 
pressed. J  esus  must  needs  rise  in  the  evening  to 
complete  the  time  prefixed  for  his  laying  dead, 
which  time  was  what  Christ  had  solemnly  declared, 
viz:  "As  Jonas  was  three  days  and  three  nights  in 
the  whale's  belly,  so  shall  the  son  of  man  be  three 
days  and  three  nights  in  the  heart  of  the  earth." 
Matt.  12 :  40.  It  is  then  as  reasonable  to  believe, 
that  seeing  Christ  died  before  the  day  was  ended 
in  the  time  of  his  crucifixion,  he  did  rise  before  the 
third  day  was  quite  ended  in  the  time  of  his  resur- 
rection. 

But  to  introduce  the  day  of  Christ's  death,  I 
must  begin  with  its  lively  type,  viz.  the  Lord's  Pass- 
over. This,  from  its  first  institution,  wijs  on  the 
fourteenth  day  of  the  first  month  Abib,  or  Nisan, 
according  to  the  sacred  account.  From  the  time 
of  Israel's  deliverance  out  of  Egypt,  the  paschal 
lamb  was  to  be  taken  upon  the  tenth  day,  and  kept 
till  the  fourteenth  day — probably  that  the  sight  of 
it  might  occasion  preparation  of  heart — and  it  was 
killed  in  the  evening,  (Ex.  12:  6,)  for  the  Passover 
was  not  lawful,  if  it  were  killed  before  noon ;  and 
the  reason  of  this  is,  because  the  law  doth  express- 
ly appoint  that  they  should  kill  it  in  the  evening, 
and  because  the  daily  evening  sacrifice  was  to  be 


104  THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST, 

killed  before  they  began  to  kill  the  Passover;  the 
reason  of  this  also  is  readily  to  be  given,  namely, 
because  an  extraordinary  service  must  not  antici- 
pate one  ordinary  and  constant.  After  they  had 
burnt  the  incense  of  the  evening  sacrifice,  and  after 
they  had  dressed  the  lamps,  then  they  began  to  kill 
the  Passover,  and  so  continued  until  the  end  of  the 
day.  The  time  they  divided  thus: — They  slew 
the  daily  sacrifice  at  the  eighth  hour  and  a  half,  and 
then  offered  it  at  the  ninth  hour  and  a  half;  but  on 
the  eve  of  the  Passover,  they  slew  it  after  the  sev- 
enth hour  and  a  half,  and  offered  it  at  the  eighth 
hour  and  a  half,  whether  the  day  were  a  common 
day  or  a  Sabbath  day.  The  division  of  the  day  by 
hours  was  not  used  when  the  Passover  was  com- 
manded;  the  word  liour,  except  in  Daniel,  is  not  in 
the  Old  Testament ;  but  they  divided  the  day  into 
three  parts,  called  morning,  noon,  and  even.  From 
six  to  ten  was  morning,  from  ten  to  two  v.'as  noon, 
from  two  to  six  at  night  v/as  even.  The  beginning 
and  end  of  this  last  part  were  the  two  evenings  be- 
tween which  the  lamb  was  killed,  and  it  was  eaten 
at  midnight.  Our  Lord  Jesus,  who  was  to  fulfill 
the  law,  kept  this  Passover.  According  to  the  law, 
he  commanded  his  disciples  to  prepare  it  upon  the 
fourteent^j  day,  and  he  ate  it  with  them  at  midnight 
on  the  fifteenth  day.  Matt.  26 :  11.  At  this  eve- 
ning, when  the  fourteen  days  ended,  and  the 
fifteenth  day  began,  then  began  the  first  of  the 
seven  days  of  unleavened  bread.  Lev.  23  :  6 ;  Num. 
28:   17;  Mark  14:   12. 

Question.  Why  then  is  the  fourteenth  day  called 
the  first  day  of  unleavened  bread? 

Answer.  Partly,  because  it  was  prefixed  and 
joined  to  them ;  and  partly  because  the  Passover 
was  killed  on  the  fourteenth  day,  which  was  eaten 


AND  HIS  APPEARANCES.  105 

with  unleavened  bread  at  the  beginning  of  the  first 
day  of  unleavened  bread ;  and  so  sometimes  all 
the  eight  days  are  called  days  of  unleavened  bread. 
Matt.  26:  17;  Luke  22:  7.  But  the  days  of  un- 
leavened bread,  properly  so  called,  were  but  seven, 
and  were  exactly  bounded.  Observe  that  the 
first  day  of  the  seven  was  xhQ  feast  of  the  Passover; 
and  the  foiirteentlt,  day  of  the  first  month  is  the 
Passover^  and  in  the  fifteenth  day  of  this  month  is 
xkyQ  feast.  Ex.12:  18;  Num.28:  16,17.  On  this 
first  day  of  the  feast,  when  these  great  matters 
were  to  be  in  hand,  namely,  their  appearing  in 
the  court,  and  offering  these  their  sacrifices  of 
solemnity  and  rejoicing,  at  the  last  Passover  of  our 
Saviour,  they  showed  themselves  otherwise  em- 
ployed ;  for  on  this  day  they  crucified  Christ.  Mark 
this  well,  the  first  and  last  of  these  seven  days  were 
holy  convocations.     "Seven  days  shall  ye  eat  un 

leavened  bread, in  the  first  day  there  shall 

be  an  holy  convocation,  and  in  the  seventh  day 
there  shall  be  an  holy  convocation,  no  manner  of 
work  shall  be  done  in  them,  save  that  which  every 
man  must  eat."  Ex.  12:  15, 16.  These  were  cere- 
monial Sabbaths,  and  commonly  called  Sabbaths ; 
but  it  is  the  first  day  of  the  seven  which  falls  under 
our  consideration,  viz,  the  fifteenth  day  of  the 
month,  which  you  may  see  called  a  Sabbath  in  Lev. 
23:  2,  15.  This  is  the  Sabbath  on  which  the  Jews 
killed  Christ,  and  which  you  suppose  to  be  the 
seventh-day  Sabbath.  But  you  are  much  mistaken. 
The  fifteenth  day  of  the  month,  on  which  Jesus 
died,  was  the  Passover  Sabbath  day;  but  they  de- 
ferred it  to  the  day  following,  and  called  the  fif- 
teenth day  preparation  day. 

Question.  Why  did  they  so  % 

Answer.  As  when  a  fixed  fair  falls  on  the  first 


106  THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST, 

day  of  the  week,  the  people  keep  it  on  the  second 
day  of  the  week.  Goodman's  "  Translation  of 
Feasts,"  lib.  3,  p.  138,  says  :— "If  the  Passover  Sab- 
bath fixed  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  month  fell  on 
some  certain  days  of  the  week,  the  Jews  had  a 
custom  to  translate  it  to  the  next  day,  by  their  rule 
Badii,  of  which  one  Eleazer  is  said  to  be  the  au- 
thor, who  lived  3-50  years  before  Christ's  birth." 
Mark  this  well.  That  this  Sabbath  was  thus  trans- 
lated, a  man  cannot  in  truth  deny.  The  reason  of 
this  politic  translation  was,  that  two  Sabbath  days 
might  not  immediately  follow  each  other;  because, 
say  they,  it  was  unlawful  during  those  two  days  to 
dress  meat,  or  bury  the  dead ;  and  it  v/as  likewise 
inconvenient  to  keep  meat  dressed,  or  the  dead  un-. 
buried  two  days.  And  this  I  affirm,  that  as  to  the 
day,  it  was  no  Sabbath  at  all,  ceremonial,  nor  moral, 
but  one  of  their  own  invention. 

Objection.  No  Sabbath  !  but  the  Scripture  calls 
it  a  Sabbath. 

Answer.  So  does  the  Scripture  call  the  devil 
Samuel  four  times  in  a  few  words,  and  does  not 
once  tell  us  it  was  the  devil.  In  calling  the  devil 
Samuel,  God  tells  us  what  Saul  and  the  witch  called 
him,  and  leaves  it  with  us  to  judge,  whether  a 
wicked,  silly  witch,  had  power  to  bring  Samuel  to 
life.  So  in  calling  that  a  Sabbath,  God  tells  us 
what  the  Jews  called  it,  and  leaves  it  with  us  to 
judge,  whether  Jesus  Christ,  or  the  Jews,  were 
likeliest  to  break  God's  law.  Hence  sometimes  it 
hath  no  Sabbath  title  ;  as,  for  example,  John,  speak- 
ing of  the  day  of  Christ's  death,  saith,  "  It  was  the 
preparation  of  the  Passover."  John  19:  14.  Ills 
nothing  but  Passover.  Matthew,  speaking  of  this 
high  Sabbath,  calls  it  "  the  next  day  that  followed 
the  day  of  preparation."     Matt.  27  :  62.     Strange  1 


AND  HIS  APPEARANCES.  107 

— a  Sabbath,  and  a  high,  day,  and  no  name,  except 
''the  next  day!"  Thus  God  is  pleased  to  drop 
words  to  see  what  notice  men  will  take  of  them. 

Objection.  How — no  Sabbath  ?  Why  then  is  it 
called  a  high  day  1 

Ansiver.  The  right  day  was  a  high  day,  for  on  it 
Israel  went  out  of  Egypt  with  an  high  hand.  Ex. 
14 :  8.  And  it  was  for  a  monument  of  their  miracu- 
lous deliverance  ;  as,  for  example,  "  This  day  shall 
be  unto  you  for  a  memorial."  Ex.  12:  14.  "Re- 
member this  day  in  which  ye  came  out  of  Egypt. 
And  thou  shalt  shew  thy  sons  ;  and  it  shall  be  for 
a  sign  unto  thee  upon  thine  hand,  and  for  a  memo- 
rial between  thine  eyes."  Ex.  13 :  3,  8,  9.  There 
were  many  solemn  or  memorable  occurrences  why 
they  should  remember  this  day  with  wonder,  viz  : 
that  Pharaoh,  who  stood  so  many  storms,  should 
rise  up  in  the  night,  and  call  for  Moses  and  Aaron, 
and  say,  "  Go  serve  the  Lord  as  ye  have  said,  also 
take  your  flocks  and  your  herds  as  ye  have  said, 
and  be  gone,  and  bless  me  also,"  (Ex.  12  :  30 — 32  ;) 
that  six  hundred  thousand  men,  besides  women 
and  children,  should  be  pulled  out  of  prison  from 
two  hundred  years'  tyranny,  and  all  in  one  night — 
a  night  indeed  to  be  much  observed  to  the  Lord. 
Upon  this  account,  that  Sabbath  was  an  high  day. 
Good  Josiah,  and  some  other  princely  persons,  sac- 
rificed at  one  Passover,  of  oxen,  bullocks,  and  small 
cattle,  thirty-one  thousand  and  four  hundred.  On 
this  day  all  the  males  were  to  appear  in  the  temple, 
and  to  bring  with  them  a  burnt-offering  for  their 
appearance,  and  a  double  peace-offering,  one  for  the 
solemnity,  and  another  for  the  joy  of  the  time  of 
harvest;  and  they  conclude  it  due  from  these  words, 
"None  of  you  shall  appear  before  the  Lord  empty." 
Ex.23:   15,    16.      The  most  proper  time    for  the 


108  THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST, 

offering  of  these,  they  accounted  to  be  the  first  day 
of  the  festival,  and  they  strove  to  conclude  their 
festivities  upon  it,  that  they  might  return  home  the 
sooner  to  their  harvests ;  and  if  these  sacrifices 
were  offered  in  any  of  the  festivals,  it  served  their 
turn.  This  was  an  high  day,  and  whether  they 
kept  the  right  day  or  the  wrong,  it  was  all  one  in 
their  esteem.  They  pretended  to  give  reasons  for 
its  translation,  as  Mr.  Ward  does  for  his  first-day 
Sabbath. 

Observe  well,  that  this  temporal  deliverence  on 
the  fifteenth  day  of  the  month,  was  a  type  of  eternal 
deliverance  by  Christ's  death  on  the  same  day  of 
the  year.  This  then  should  have  been  a  high  day 
on  Christ's  account.  But  him  the  carnal  Jews  laid 
low.  They  killed  Christ  on  the  Passover  Sabbath 
day,  and  kept  the  Passover  on  the  wrong  day.  It 
' ,  related,  that  when  Christ  was  brought  into  Pilate's 
Judgment  Hall,  which  was  after  he  had  eaten  the 
Passover  with  his  disciples,  as  all  the  evangelists 
declare,  the  Jews  durst  not  go  into  the  Hall, 
iest  they  should  be  defiled,  and  thus  be  prevented 
from  eating  the  Passover.  John  IS :  28,  If  you  say 
that  the  Jews  kept  the  right  day,  you  must  say  that 
Jesus  kept  the  wrong  day.  If  you  say  that  the  Jews 
did  not  translate  the  Passover  to  the  day  after  the 
right  day,  you  must  say  that  Jesus  did  anticipate  it 
the  day  before  the  right  day ;  that  is  to  say,  Christ 
died  on  the  fourteenth  day,  and  killed  the  Passover 
on  the  thirteenth  day,  contrary  to  the  law.  In  so 
saying,  you  make  Jesus  a  transgressor;  for  the  law 
particularly  required  that  "the  man  that  is  clean, 
and  is  not  on  a  journey,  and  forbeareth  to  keep  the 
Passover,  even  the  same  soul  shall  be  cut  off  from 
his  people;  because  he  brought  not  the  offeiing 
of  the  Lord  in  his  appointed  season,  that  man  shall 
bear  his  sin."     Num.9:    13.     Thus,  by  justifying 


AND  HIS  APPEARANCES.  109 

the  Jews,  you  condemn  Christ.  In  order  to  pre- 
vent encroachments  upon  the  appointed  time,  it  was 
furthermore  directed  by  the  law,  that  "if  any  man 
shall  be  unclean  by  reason  of  a  dead  body,  or  be  on 
a  journey  afar  off,  yet  he  shall  keep  the  Passover 
unto  the  Lord.  The  fourteenth  day  of  the  second 
month  at  even  they  shall  keep  it."  Num.  9:  10,  11. 
But  had  Christ  failed  of  fulfilling  the  whole  law, 
God's  purpose  of  man's  salvation  had  failed.  On 
the  fourteenth  day  of  the  month  Nisan,  the  Passover 
was  killed  according  to  all  the  rites  of  it.  Num. 
9:  3.  On  the  fifteenth  day  Christ  was  killed.  Th^ 
sixteenth,  being  wave-day,  was  the  first  day  Jesuj 
lay  dead ;  therefore  he  rose  not  that  day,  and  so 
Pentecost  could  not,  as  you  argue,  fall  on  the  first 
day  of  the  week.  So  your  Pentecost  opinion  is 
utterly  overthrown  with  that,  for  Christ's  death  was 
not  on  the  sixth  day.  The  fifteenth  day  of  the  first 
month  Nisan,  when  Christ  was  crucified  and  died, 
fell  that  year  on  the  fourth  day  of  the  week,  i.  e. 
Wednesday,  at  the  end  of  which  day  our  blessed 
Jesus  was  buried,  from  which  time  to  the  end  of  the 
seventh-day  Sabbath  was  three  days  and  three 
nights,  the  term  of  time  that  our  Lord  foretold  he 
should  lie  in  the  grave.  Matt.  12:  40.  So  that 
there  were  two  days  between  the  day  of  Jesus' 
death  and  the  seventh-day  Sabbath,  and  one  day 
between  that  high  Sabbath  and  the  seventh-day 
Sabbath.  Had  the  Jews  kept  the  right  day,  there 
had  been  two  days  between  their  high  Sabbath  and 
the  seventh-day  Sabbath,  which  you  say  were  both 
in  a  day.  The  reason  of  this  translation  was  be- 
cause it  fell  on  the  fourth  day  of  the  week  ;  for  if 
this  Sabbath,  fixed  on  the  fifteenth  day,  fell  on  Mon 
day,  Wednesday,  or  Friday,  the  Jews'  custom  was 
to  translate  it  to  the  next  day.  That  year  it  fell  on 
Wednesday;  they  therefore  kept  it  on  Thursday,  the 
10 


110  THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST, 

sixteenth,  or  wave-day.     So  you  may  see  that  your 
wave-day  and  Pentecost  were  on  Thursday. 

To  prove  the  truth  of  the  foregoing  position,  I 
will  give  one  Scripture  more,  in  Dan.  9:  26,  "And 
after  three-score  and  two  weeks  shall  the  Messiah 
be  cut  off,  but  not  for  himself."  These  are  extra- 
ordinary weeks.  "  And  he  shall  confirm  the  cove- 
nant with  many  for  one  week,"  (verse  27,)  or  rather 
for  many  by  being  cut  off,  according  to  the  cove- 
nant, (Zech.  9 :  11,)  and  shall  cause  the  sacrifice 
and  oblation  to  cease.  The  sacrifice  was  the  yearly 
Passover.  Ex.  12:  27.  The  oblation  was  the  daily 
sacrifice.  Num.28:  3,  4;  Dan.  9:  21.  These  two 
were  the  yearly  type  and  the  daily  type  of  Christ's 
death  ;  when  he,  the  substantial  sacrifice,  was  of- 
fered for  us,  then  he  caused  these  shadows  to 
cease.  But  when?  In  the  midst  of  the  week  he 
shall  cause  the  sacrifice  and  the  oblation  to  cease. 
Dan.  9 :  27.  This  one  week  was  an  ordinary  week 
of  seven  days,  the  midst  of  which  is  the  fourth  day, 
or  middle  day,  having  three  days  before  it  and  three 
days  after  it,  and  all  of  these  three  last .  Jesus  lay 
dead.  So  you  may  see  that  the  week-day  of  Christ's 
death  was  foretold  before  his  birth  by  the  Scriptures 
of  truth,  though  you  may  be  ignorant  of  it — in  which 
God  drops  words  in  the  dark,  to  see  if  men  will 
seek  after  him.  Thus  I  have  given  you  the  testi- 
mony of  God's  holy  word,  in  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
taments, to  prove  my  opinion  by. 

Question.  If  Christ  lay  so  long  dead,  why  did  the 
Jews  go  to  Pilate  for  an  order  to  secure  the  sepul- 
chre on  a  high  Sabbath  day,  and  not  stay  till  the 
next  day  *? 

Answer.  As  necessity  hath  no  law,  so  necessity 
hath  no  holy  days;  what  cannot  be  done  before, 
nor  deferred  till  after,  may  be  done  on  the  Sabbath 


AND  HIS  APPEARANCES.  Ill 

day.  It  could  not  be  done  before,  for  their  heads 
were  so  full  of  concern  to  get  Christ  crucified,  that 
there  wanted  room  for  that  consideration;  and  they 
had  been  up  the  night  before  and  that  day  too.  But 
having  slept  upon  it,  and  settled  their  wicked  wits, 
Now  sirs,  say  they,  we  remember  that  that  deceiver 
said,  after  three  days  I  will  rise  again  ;  and  it  cannot 
be  omitted  till  to-morrow,  for  he  may  be  stolen  away 
to-night  by  his  deceitful  disciples.     Matt.  27  :  63,  64. 

Question.  If  there  was  a  day  for  work  between 
the  two  Sabbaths,  why  did  not  the  zealous  women 
bring  their  spices  on  that  day,  but  stay  till  after  the 
Sabbath  day? 

Ansiocr.  Because  they  could  not  get  in.  The 
Jews  made  the  sepulchre  secure,  sealing  the  stone 
and  setting  a  watch.  It  was  made  fast  for  three 
days,  to  prove  Christ  an  impostor.     Matt.  27 :  ^^. 

Question.  When  do  you  suppose  Jesus  Christ 
rose  from  the  dead? 

Ansiocr.  I  do  more  than  suppose,  for  I  am  fully 
satisfied,  that  Jesus  Christ  rose  from  the  dead  in  the 
even  when  the  Sabbath  ended.  He  did  not  rise  in 
the  morning.  There  is  not  a  text  in  the  Bible  that 
tells  you  so.  The  two  Marys  came  to  see  the  sepul- 
chre as  it  began  to  dawn  towards  the  first  day  of 
the  week,  and  Christ  was  risen  from  the  dead. 
Matt.  28:  1 — 6.  It  is  therefore  a  settled  question, 
that  if  the  day  begins,  as  some  say,  in  the  morning, 
Jesus  did  not  rise  on  the  first  day  of  the  week. 

Ohjection.  Mary's  coming  to  the  sepulchre  in  the 
morning,  seems  to  signify  that  Jesus  was  to  rise  in 
the  morning. 

Answer.  It  was  not  the  least  sign  of  his  rising  in 
the  morning,  nor  came  they  with  any  expectation 
of  his  resurrection,  but  to  anoint  him,  as  if  he  had 


112  THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST, 

been  to  lay  in  the  grave  as  other  dead  men.  When 
Jesus  foretold  his  rising  from  the  dead,  his  disciples 
questioned  what  that  rising  from  the  dead  should 
mean.  Mark  9:  10.  When  he  told  them  that  he 
should  be  mocked,  spitted  on,  scourged,  put  to 
death,  and  rise  the  third  day,  they  understood  none 
of  these  things.  Luke  18:  34.  And  when  they 
saw  that  he  was  risen,  they  knew  not  the  Scripture 
that  he  must  rise  again  from  the  dead.  John  20 :  9. 
This  phrase,  "the  third  day,"  is  most  miserably 
mistaken,  if  thus  taken,  viz.  Friday  one,  Saturday 
two,  Sunday  three;  as  if  the  day  of  Christ's  death 
and  the  day  of  his  resurrection  were  two  of  the 
three  days.  Neither  is  the  one  nor  the  other  any 
part  of  that  number;  but  the  third  day  must  be  un- 
derstood by  more  definite  texts,  viz :  "  The  son  of 
man  shall  be  three  days  and  three  nights  in  the 
heart  of  the  earth."  Matt.  12 :  40.  "  The  son  of 
man  must  be  killed,  and  after  three  days  rise 
again."  Mark  8:  31.  Christ's  enemies  could  re- 
member his  words,  though  his  friends  forgot  them. 
*  We  remember,  say  they,  that  that  deceiver  said, 
while  he  was  yet  alive.  After  three  days  I  will  rise 
asrain.'  Matt.  27 :  63.  The  an2:el  said  to  the  wo- 
men.  He  is  risen,  as  he  said,  (Matt.  28:  5,  6,)  that 
is,  when  the  days  and  nights  were  ended  which  he 
foretold  for  his  lying  dead  in  the  grave.  Jonas 
the  prophet  showed  the  mystery  of  Christ's  death 
and  his  resurrection,  being  three  days  and  three 
nights  in  the  belly  of  the  whale,  which  afterwards 
cast  him  up  uncorrupted.  Even  so  the  Son  of  Man 
was  three  days  and  three  nights  in  the  bowels  of  the 
earth  uncorrupted,  and  rose  again.     Matt.  12:  40. 

Objection.  It  hath  been  the  opinion  for  many  gene- 
rations, that  Christ  was  crucified  and  died  on  the 
sixth  day. 


AND  HIS  APPEARANCES.  113 

Ansiver.  If  so,  it  is  time  that  it  was  corrected. 
If  I  had  no  better  foundation  for  my  opinion,  I 
should  be  ashamed  to  own  it.  So  too  with  the 
Pentecost.  Let  us  look  at  these  fifty  days  in  the 
letter  of  the  law.  "  And  ye  shall  count  unto  you 
from  the  morrow  after  the  Sabbath,  from  the  day 
that  ye  brought  the  sheaf  of  the  wave-oftering, 
seven  Sabbaths  shall  be  complete,  even  unto  the 
morrow  after  the  seventh  Sabbath  shall  ye  number 
fifty  days."  Lev.  23 :  15,  16.  This  morrow,  or 
wave-day,  is  the  first  of  the  fifty  days;  seven  week# 
are  equal  to  forty-nine  days ;  the  morrow  after  com- 
pletes the  Jlfty  days,  as  the  Greek  word  Pentecost 
signifies.  And  when  the  day  of  Pentecost  was 
fully  come,  (Acts  2:  1,)  that  is,  when  the  seventh 
Sabbath  was  past,  the  seven  weeks  were  complete, 
and  Pentecost  was  fully  come.  Observe  that  the 
fiftieth  day  begins  another  week  on  the  same  day 
of  the  week  on  which  the  first  day  of  the  fifty  be- 
gan the  first  week  of  the  seven;  so  the  first  day 
and  the  fiftieth  day  fell  both  on  the  same  day  of  the 
week.  This  a  child  might  tell ;  but  I  remind  you 
of  it,  that  you  may  see  that  your  two  great  days  for 
confirmation  of  your  opinion  stand  and  fall  together. 
And  now  I  tell  you  that  these  two  days  did  not 
fall  on  the  first  day  of  the  week.  Pentecost  fell  not 
on  the  first  day.  The  Passover  was  killed  on  the 
fourteenth  day,  and  the  Passover  Sabbath  was  on 
the  fifteenth  day,  on  which  Christ  died,  and  the 
sheaf  was  waved  on  the  sixteenth  day.  This  is 
plain  enough.  This  wave-day,  on  which  you  say 
Christ  rose  form  the  dead,  was  the  first  day  he  lay 
in  the  grave.  So,  by  your  account,  Jesus  rose  from 
the  dead  the  next  day  after  his  death — buried  at 
even  and  rose  in  the  morning.  But  suppose  Jesus 
had  risen  on  this  wave-sheaf  day,  yet  what  type  of 
Christ's  resurrection  was  the  sheaf?  There  was  an 
10* 


114  THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST, 

he-lamb  without  blemish  offered  on  that  day  too, 
which  was  as  much  a  type  of  Christ's  death  on  that 
day,  as  the  sheaf  could  be  of  his  resurrection.  By 
this  rule  Christ  both  died  and  rose  in  a  day.  Into 
what  a  wilderness  will  the  wit  of  men  lead  us  ! 
Observe  that  this  wave-day,  on  which  you  say  Jesus 
rose,  was  the  first  day  he  lay  in  the  grave.  If  you 
had  said  the  lamb  was  a  type  of  Christ's  death  be- 
fore that  day,  and  the  wave-sheaf  a  type  of  his 
resurrection  after  that  day,  there  had  been  some 
Ijlshadow  of  reason  in  your  assertion.  So  you  may 
see  that  your  Pentecost  proof  is  perished,  and  your 
arguments  are  false. 

Thus  I  have  given  you  a  true  account  of  the  day 
of  Christ's  death,  of  the  time  of  his  burial,  of  the 
time  he  lay  dead,  and  of  the  time  of  his  resurrec-' 
tion.  But  you  neither  tell  us  when  Christ  died,  nor 
how  long  he  lay  dead,  nor  when  he  rose;  for  you 
have  nothing  in  the  Bible  to  prove  your  opinion  by. 
First,  the  day  of  Christ's  death  is  not  said  to  be  on 
the  sixth  day;  second,  the  Sabbath  ensuing  is  not 
said  to  be  the  seventh-day  Sabbath ;  third,  the  first 
day  is  not  said  to  be  the  morrow  after  the  Passover 
Sabbath,  but  when  it  is  spoken  of  it  is  thus  phrased, 
*in  the  end  of  the  Sabbath,'  or  '  when  the  Sabbath 
was  past,'  or  '  the  first  day  of  the  week.'  Matt. 
28:   1;   Mark  16:   1;  John  20 :   1. 

I  marvel  now  that  people  are  groping  in  mists  at 
noon-day,  looking  for  the  time  of  Jesus'  resurrec- 
tion in  the  morning,  when  that  was  not  at  all  to  be 
expected.  For  there  was  no  need  for  the  time  of  his 
resurrection  to  be  expressed,  when  the  time  of  his 
burial  at  evening,  and  the  time  of  his  continuance 
in  the  grave,  three  days  and  three  nights,  are  ex- 
pressed. Matt.  12 :  40.  Shame  upon  this  ground- 
less plea  for  the  beginning  of  the  Sabbath  at 
midnight  or  in  the  morning.      I  pray  you  consider 


AND  HIS  APPEARANCES.  115 

seriously  with  yourself,  what  account  you  can  give 
at  the  great  day  of  judgment,  if  you  will  not  hear 
God's  voice  so  audible,  nor  see  his  word  so  visible, 
but  will  ground  your  sabbatical  opinions  on  man's 
tradition,  which  hath  no  support  in  God's  Word. 
"Wherefore  be  ye  not  unwise,  but  understand 
what  the  will  of  the  Lord  is."     Eph.  5  :   17. 

None  of  the  apostles  say  that  Christ  rose  on  the 
first  day  of  the  week.  But  if  he  had  risen  on  the 
first  day,  is  that  a  sufhcient  reason  to  change  the 
day  which  God  himself  prescribed  unto  us,  blessed 
and  commanded  ]  By  the  same  argument  with 
which  you  plead  for  the  day  of  Christ's  resurrec- 
tion, I  may  plead  for  the  day  of  his  birth,  and  for 
the  day  of  his  death,  and  for  the  day  of  his  ascen- 
sion, since  neither  of  these  are  inferior  to  the  day 
of  his  resurrection. 

For  example,  the  Psalmist  speaks  of  a  day  which 
the  Lord  Jehovah  hath  made,  and  saith,  "  I  will 
rejoice  and  b*e  glad  in  it."  But  what  day  is  this? 
Why,  the  day  of  Christ's  birth.  Luke  2:  10,  11, 
13,  14.  "And  the  angel  of  the  Lord  said  unto  the 
shepherds,  Fear  not,  for  behold  I  bring  you  good 
tidings  of  great  joy,  which  shall  be  to  all  people; 
for  unto  you  is  born  this  day  in  the  city  of  David  a 
Saviour,  which  is  Christ  the  Lord.  And  suddenly 
there  was  with  the  angel  a  multitude  of  the 
heavenly  host,  praising  God,  and  saying,  Glory  to 
God  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth  peace,  good  will 
towards  men."  The  birth  of  Christ  was  the  best 
cordial  that  ever  the  Lord's  prophets  proposed  to 
the  church  in  her  most  disconsolate  condition  in 
foregoing  ages.  That  Christ  is  given  to  the  world, 
is  the  sum  of  all  good  news,  and  affordeth  such  joy 
as  surpa.sseth  the  three  great  worldly  joys — the  joy 
of  marriage,  the  joy  of  harvest,  and  the  joy  of 
victory.     This  day,  therefore,  is  the   day  that  the 


116  THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST, 

Lord  Jehovah  has  made  a  day  of  rejoicing  to  the 
church  of  Christ,  and  we  will  be  glad  and  rejoice 
in  it;  for  can  it  be  imagined  that  the  Spirit,  by  the 
Prophet,  should  signalize  this  day  for  nothing;  say- 
ing. This  is  the  day  which  the  Lord  hath  made,  to 
no  purpose  1  Yes,  we  may  say  for  the  day  of  his 
Son's  birth,  *  It  is  a  day  that  the  Lord  hath  made, 
and  that  we  might  rejoice  and  be  glad  in  it.' 

Again,  God  the  Father  leaves  such  another  stamp 
of  divine  honor  upon  this  day,  as  he  never  before 
did  leave  upon  any  day,  where  he  saith,  "  Thou  art 
my  son,  this  day  have  I  begotten  thee ;"  still,  I 
say,  having  respect  to  the  day  of  Christ's  birth,  for 
that  and  no  other  is  the  day  here  intended.  This 
day,  saith  God,  is  tke  day;  and  now  shall  not  Christ- 
ians, when  they  read  that  God  saith  t7iis  day,  and 
that  too  with  reference  to  a  work  done  on  it  by 
himself,  and  so  full  of  delight  to  him,  and  so  full 
of  life  and  heaven  to  them,  also  set  a  mark  upon  it, 
saying.  This  was  the  day  of  God's  pleasure,  for 
that  his  Son  w^as  born  into  the  world]  And  shall 
it  not  be  the  day  of  my  delight  in  him?  This  is 
the  day  in  which  the  Son  was  both  begotten  and 
born  into  the  world.  Heb.  1 :  5,  6.  Shall  kings 
and  princes  and  great  men  set  a  mark  upon  the  day 
of  their  birth  and  coronation,  and  expect  that  both 
subjects  and  servants  should  do  them  honor  on  that 
day]  And  shall  the  day  in  which  Christ  was  both 
begotten  and  born  into  the  world,  be  a  day  con- 
temned by  Christians,  and  his  name  not  be  re- 
garded on  that  day]  I  say  again,  shall  God,  as 
with  his  finger,  point  at  this  day,  and  that  in  the 
face  of  the  world,  saying  by  the  angel,  "Unto  you 
is  born  this  day,  in  the  city  of  David,  a  Saviour, 
which  is  Christ  the  Lord  ]"'  and  shall  not  Christians 
fear  and  awake  from  their  employments  to  worship 
the  Lord  on  this  dav]     If  God  remembers  it,  well 


AND  HIS   APPEARANCES.  117 

may  we,  and  with  all  gladness  of  heart.  When  he 
bringeth  his  first  begotten  into  the  world,  he 
saith.  And  let  all  the  angels  of  God  worship  him. 
Then  the  morning  stars  sang  together,  and  all  the 
sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy.  This  day  he  was  de- 
clared to  be  the  Son  of  God  with  power.  This  day 
our  dear  Redeemer  was  born  into  the  world.  Nor 
is  it  altogether  to  be  slighted,  that  when  he  bringeth 
his  first-begotten  into  the  world,  he  saith,  Let  all 
the  angels  of  God  worship  him ;  to  wit,  at  the  very 
time  and  day  when  Christ  was  born  into  the  world. 
Whatever  our  expositors  may  say  of  this  text,  to 
me  it  seems  to  be  meant  of  his  birth-day,  when 
God  broug^ht  his  first-be crotten  into  the  world,  for 
he  said,  And  let  all  the  angels  worship  him.  The 
bringing  of  his  first-begotten  into  the  world,  was 
when  he  was  born  into  the  world.  Now,  saith  the 
text,  when  God  brought  him  thus  into  the  world, 
he  requireth  worship  to  be  done  unto  him.  When  1 
On  that  very  day  that  Christ  was  born  into  the 
world ;  and  that  by  all  the  angels  of  God ;  and  if  by- 
all,  then  ministers  are  not  excluded ;  and  if  not 
ministers,  then  not  churches,  for  what  is  said  to  the 
angel  is  said  to  the  church  itself.  So  then,  if  the 
question  be  asked.  When  must  they  worship  him] 
the  answer  is,  when  God  brought  him  into  the 
world;  that  is,  the  day  he  was  born  into  the  world 
should  be  the  day  for  worshiping  him. 

Here  you  may  see,  Mr.  Ward,  both  by  Scripture 
and  reason,  that  there  is  more  to  be  said  for  keep- 
ing that  day  for  the  Sabbath  on  which  Christ  was 
born,  than  you  have  for  keeping  the  first  day  of  the 
week  for  the  Sabbath. 

Again,  Mr.  Ward  argues  that  the  work  of  re- 
demption is  greater  than  the  work  of  creation; 
therefore  they  keep  the  first  day  in  commemoration 


118         THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST, 

of  it,  as  they  of  old  did   the   seventh    day    in  com- 
memoration of  the  work  of  creation. 

Answer — 1st.  As  touching  the  greatness  of  either 
the  work  of  creation  or  the  work  of  redemption, 
though  both  are  very  great,  it  is  not  a  suificient  argu- 
ment to  keep  a  Sabbath  upon.  It  is  the  command 
of  God  that  is  to  be  the  rule  of  this  as  of  all  other 
duties,  for  it  is  the  command  of  God  that  we  ought 
to  be  obedient  to.  Therefore  it  is  often  expressed, 
If  ye  keep  my  commandments;  if  ye  do  and  observe, 
saith  the  Lord,  what  I  have  commanded  you.  And 
therefore  do  the  prophets  use  this  expression  so 
often.  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  which  you  cannot  do  for 
your  first-day  Sabbath,  without  telling  a  lie. 

2d.  The  day  of  Christ's  dcat/i  was  the  day  or 
time  wherein  the  height  of  his  love  to  mankind  was 
eminently  shown,  in  bearing  our  sins  and  misery  in 
his  own  body  on  the  tree.  So  that  if  any  day  ought 
to  be  regarded  above  others,  on  account  of  what 
Christ  hath  done  for  us,  surely  that  wherein 
the  highest  strains  of  his  love  to  mankind  were 
manifest,  must  be  the  day.  If  the  work  of  redemp- 
tion may  be  properly  said  to  be  finished  on  any  par- 
ticular day,  surely  we  may  conclude  that  Christ  is 
the  fittest  judge  and  determiner  in  this  matter,  and  he 
tells  us,  in  John  19  :  30,  just  upon  his  giving  up  the 
ghost,  "It  is  finished,"  that  is,  the  toil,  labor,  bur- 
den and  misery  of  it.  Wherefore  the  Apostle  Paul, 
who  best  knew  wherein  or  on  what  account  to 
glory,  eminently  gloried  in  the  passion,  not  in 
the  resurrection,  of  his  Saviour.  G  al.  6  :  14.  And 
he  seems,  as  it  were,  to  promote  and  appoint  a  fes- 
tival in  commemoration  thereof.  Christ  our  Pass- 
over is  sacrificed  for  us;  therefore  let  us  keep  the 
feast,  (or  holy  day,  as  in  the  margin.)  1  Cor.  5:  8. 
From  all  which  it  is  evident,  both  by  Scripture  and 


AND   HIS  APPEARANCES.  119 

reason,  that  if  any  day  of  the  week  or  year  hath 
gained  observation  on  the  account  of  Christ's  un- 
dertaking for  mankind,  it  is  the  day  of  our  Saviour's 
death  and  passion,  and  not  the  day  of  his  resurrec- 
tion. I  write  not  this  because  I  suppose  that  any 
sanction  of  tiiis  day  will  advance  it  above  others — 
for  nothing  less  than  a  divine  institution  will  bear  any 
weight  with  me — but  to  show  the  absurdity  and  un- 
reasonableness of  those  who,  acting  only  by  hu- 
man dictates,  pretend  to  give  that  honor  to  Christ 
which  he  never  required,  nor  will  ever  accept  at 
their  hands. 

Mr.  "Ward  conceives  that  Christ's  risinsr  out  of 
the  grave  and  coming  to  his  disciples  on  the  first 
day  of  the  week,  is  much  to  the  purpose,  if  not 
sufficient  to  prove  his  supposed  Sabbath. 

Ansiocr.  But  you  should  look  farther,  sir,  than 
Christ's  rising  out  of  the  grave;  for  that  was  not 
his  highest  exaltation.  His  highest  exaltation 
was  when  he  ascended  to  the  right  hand  of  God, 
and  all  power  was  given  to  him  in  heaven  and  on 
earth.  Matt.  28:  18;  Acts  2:  33.  Then  was  he 
highly  exalted,  and  had  a  name  above  every  name, 
that  at  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow. 
Phil.  2:  9.  Hence  Peter  saith  to  the  Jews,  when 
he  treateth  of  Christ  before  them,  and  particularly 
of  Christ's  exaltation,  "  This  is  the  stone  which  was 
set  at  naught  of  you  builders;  the  same  is  made 
the  head  of  the  corner."  He  was  set  at  naught  by 
them  during  the  whole  course  of  his  ministry  unto 
his  death,  and  was  made  the  head  of  the  corner  by 
God  on  that  day  when,  ascending  on  high,  he  led 
captivity  captive,  and  gave  gifts  unto  men.  Eph. 
4:  8.  Then  if  Christ's  being  made  the  head  of 
the  corner  may  give  authority  for  that  day  of  the 
week  on  which  it  occurred  to  be  kept  for  the  Sab- 


120  THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST, 

batli,  it  will  more  properly  become  the  day  of  his 
ascension.  After  he  was  risen,  Christ  said  to  Mary, 
"  Touch  me  not,  for  I  am  not  yet  ascended  to  my 
Father."  John  20 :  17.  And  we  find  by  Acts  1  : 
3,  that  he  was  seen  of  his  disciples  forty  days,  be- 
fore we  read  of  his  ascension  day.  And  our  nation 
doth  observe  Christ's  ascension  forty  days  after 
Easter,  though  but  once  in  the  year.  Yet  that 
seems  best  to  agree  with  his  being  made  the  head 
of  the  corner,  when  God  had  not  only  raised  him 
from  the  dead,  but  also  set  him  at  his  own  right 
hand  in  heavenly  places,  far  above  all  principalities, 
and  powers,  and  might,  and  dominion,  and  every 
name  that  is  named,  not  only  in  this  world,  but  also 
in  that  which  is  to  come,  and  hath  put  all  things 
under  his  feet.  Eph.  1 :  21,  22.  Now  indeed  is 
Christ,  who  was  rejected,  made  the  head  of  the 
corner;  and  if  we  understand  the  text  to  require  a 
Sabbath  every  week  on  the  day  that  Christ  was 
exalted,  then  we  must  keep  it,  not  on  the  first  day 
of  the  week,  but  on  the  fifth  day  of  the  week,  for 
that  is  the  day  yearly  observed  for  ascension  day, 
called  Holy  Thursday. 

And  why  may  not  one  as  well  advocate  the  day 
that  Christ  was  born  on  for  the  Sabbath  weekly,  in 
memory  of  his  birth;  and  the  day  he  died  on,  in 
memory  of  his  passion ;  and  the  day  he  ascended 
up  to  heaven  on,  in  memory  of  his  exaltation? 
There  is  more  said,  by  the  Scriptures,  for  any  of 
these  three  days  to  be  kept  for  the  Sabbath  every 
week,  than  there  is  said  for  the  first  day.  All 
which  conceits,  and  many  other  such  like  as  do 
pretend  to  be  for  the  honor  of  Christ,  are  ground- 
less. When  any  person  whatsoever,  with  pretended 
good  intentions,  assumes  an  authority  of  his  own 
head  to  add  to  the  Word  of  God,  or  in  any  way  to 
alter  it  in  a  tittle,  therewith  comes  in  the   whole 


AND  HIS   APPEARAiVCES*  121 

Ilomisli  calendar  of  saints'  days,  and  all  their  mass 
and  mockery,  which  have  as  specious  pretences  as 
there  are  for  the  first-day  Sabbath.  If  the  churches 
corrupted,  or  even  the  purest  churches,  be  once  ad- 
mitted to  have  power  to  invent,  or  to  alter  a  divine 
institution  from  one  day  of  the  week  to  another,  I 
know  of  no  bolts  or  locks  strong  enough  for  such  a 
door,  to  keep  it  from  letting  in  upon  the  churches 
of  Christ  whatsoever  pleaseth  those  in  power  in 
any  part  of  the  world,  whether  it  concerns  Grod's 
immediate  solemn  worship,  or  matters  of  doctrine 
or  conversation.  For  if  such  gaps  be  left  open,  by 
the  like  reason  there  may  be  laid  as  great  burdens 
upon  the  Christian  churches  as  were  upon  the 
Jews  of  old,  or  as  are  now  upon  the  Romanists — 
such  as  are  utterly  inconsistent  with  all  instituted 
worship,  and  all  true  Christian  liberty,  wherein 
Christ  by  his  word  hath  made  his  churches  free,  in 
which  liberty  we  are  to  stand  fast.  Gal.  5:  1. 
This  liberty  consists  in  a  freedom,  not  only  from  the 
ceremonial  law  of  old,  contained  in  ordinances, 
which  are  laid  aside  by  Christ,  which  liberty  is 
purchased  by  him,  but  also  in  a  liberty  not  to  be 
entangled  with  a  new  yoke  of  men's  devices  and 
inventions.  God  hath  left  laws  enough  for  the  well 
governing  of  his  church;  to  which  laws,  if  we  yield 
entire  subjection,  we  have  certainly  no  need  fur- 
ther to  trouble  ourselves.  And  whilst  no  man  has 
yet  from  Scripture  shown  us  any  institution  for  the 
first  day,  not  alteration  of  the  seventh,  after  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-one  years,  I 
do  not  now  expect  it  of  any  man.  Such  places 
have  been  already  searched  for  by  many  writers, 
and  being  not  yet  found,  I  think  we  may  conclude 
that  they  never  will  be  found.  Therefore  I  won- 
der that  anybody  should  pretend  to  a  divine  insti- 
tution, sanctioned  by  God  in  the  Scriptures,  for  the 
11 


122  EXAMINATIOx\  OP  ACTS  20  ;    7. 

first  day  of  the  week  to  be  the  Sabbath,  when  there 
is  no  such  thing  to  be  found,  except  in  the  West- 
minster Catechism. 

That  this  sacred  rest  of  the  seventh-day  Sabbath  is 
not  changed,  as  Mr.  Ward  supposes,  by  Divine  au- 
thority, from  the  seventh  and  last  day  of  the  week 
to  the  first  day;  or,  that  the  Scripture  doth  not  any 
where  require  the  observation  of  any  other  day 
for  the  weekly  Sabbath,  but  the  seventh  day  only, 
is  sufficiently  evident  from  what  hath  been  said  al- 
ready. For  if  the  seventh-day  Sabbath  be  of  univer- 
sal and  perpetual  concernment  to  all  mankind,  the 
first-day  Sabbath  must  be  a  mere  vanity,  unless 
some  one  can  show  that  God  hath  appointed  two 
Sabbaths  every  week  to  be  observed — a  thing 
which  as  yet  never  any  pretended  to  do. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


Examination  of  Acts 20:  7 — "And  upon  the  first  day  of  the 
week,  when  the  disciples  came  together  to  break  bread.  Paul 
preached  unto  them,  ready  to  depart  on  the  moiTow,  and  con- 
tinued his  speech  imlil  midnight." 

Mr.  Ward  has,  in  his  exposition  of  the  twentieth 
chapter  of  Exodus,  forsaken  the  Sabbath  that  God 
cammanded,  and  the  authority  of  the  prophets,  as 
has  been  plainly  shown  before,  and  has  been  look- 
ing for  a  new  Sabbath  from  Acts  20  :  7 — "  And  upon 
the  first  day  of  the  week,  when  the  disciples  came 
together  to  bread  bread,  Paul  preached  unto  them, 
ready  to  depart  on  the  morrow,  and  continued  his 
speech  until  midnight." 


EXAMINATION  OF  ACTS  20:    7.  123 

Answer.  There  is  no  help  for  you  in  this  text ; 
for  how  unlikely  it  is  that  Paul,  who  made  such 
haste  to  be  at  Pentecost,  would  keep  a  new  Sab- 
bath, at  the  sacrifice  of  the  old  one  of  the  Lord. 
If  he  had  set  up  a  new  Sabbath,  and  abolished  the 
old,  there  had  been  no  room  for  him  at  the  feast 
of  Pentecost.  And  if  the  Jews  that  believed  were 
so  disturbed,  because  they  were  informed  that  he 
tauffht  ao^ainst  circumcision  and  the  customs,  what 
would  they  have  done  if  he  had  broken  the  Sab- 
bath, taught  others  to  do  the  same,  and  had  set  up 
another  Sabbath  in  the  room  of  it'?  For  any  man 
to  imagine  this,  is  to  do  violence  to  his  own  reason. 
Neither  is  there  any  thing  in  the  text  or  context 
that  doth  in  the  least  intimate  any  such  thing  as  a 
new  day  of  worship.  A  hard  piece  of  work  it 
would  have  been  for  the  Apostle  Paul  to  have  got 
a  new  Sabbath  established  in  the  world,  seeing  the 
old  Sabbath  was  kept  by  Jews  and  Gentiles  in 
every  city,  and  the  light  and  practice  of  it  was  in 
all  nations.  If  there  is  such  a  blustering  and 
wrangling  among  professors  now,  because  some 
are  endeavoring  to  restore  again  the  observance  of 
the  Sabbath  which  God  commanded,  what  a  stir 
would  there  then  have  been,  if  the  Apostle  had 
gone  about  to  change  the  Sabbath !  It  would  have 
been  the  surest  way  to  have  made  confusion,  and 
put  a  stop  to  the  publication  of  the  Gospel. 

We  should  however  follow  Paul  only  as  he  fol- 
lowed Christ,  It  was  undeniably  Christ's  custom 
to  keep  the  seventh-day  Sabbath.  So  was  it  Paul's 
manner  to  observe  the  same  day.  "  Christ,  as  his 
custom  was,  went  into  the  synagogue  on  the  Sab- 
bath day."  Luke  4:  16.  And  "Paul,  as  his  man- 
ner was,"  did  the  same  thing.  Acts  17  :  2.  Christ 
preached,  and  Paul  preached.  Where  then  is  the 
difference  between  Christ's  observation  of  the  sev- 


124  EXAMINATION  OF  ACTS  20  :    7. 

entli-day  Sabbath  and  Paul's  observation  of  the  sev- 
enth-day Sabbath?  It  is  made  a  great  argument 
lor  the  observation  of  the  first  day  for  the  Sabbath, 
because  Paul  preached  once  on  that  day.  Yet  it 
may  be  made  as  good  an  argument  for  the  observa- 
tion of  the  fifth  day  of  the  week  for  the  Sabbath, 
because  he  had  meetings  on  that  day.  But  it  is  as 
clearly  declared  in  Acts  18:  4,  that  Paul  preached 
every  Sabbath,  only  the  translators  have  not  ex- 
pressed it  so  clearly.  In  Acts  20:  7,  they  tell 
us  that  Paul  preached  on  the  Jirst  day;  but  in  Acts 
18:  4,  they  say  Paul  reasoned  every  Sabhath  day; 
and  yet  the  Greek  vv'ord  is  the  same  in  both  places. 
Neither  was  this  Paul's  practice  only,  but  the 
constant  custom  of  all  the  disciples  that  accompa- 
nied him.  We  find  them,  in  i^cts  13:  14 — 16, 
solemnly  observing  the  seventh  day  for  the  Sab- 
bath. So  also  in  Acts  16:  13;  17:  2;  18:  4,  19. 
Thus  we  may  follow  Paul  and  his  companions  from 
place  to  place,  and  constantly  find  them  observing 
the  seventh  day  for  the  Sabbath;  and  though  he 
solemnly  professed  that  he  had  not  shunned  to  de- 
clare the  whole  counsel  of  God,  yet  this  great 
slighter  of  ceremonies  never  gives  the  least  hint 
of  a  change  of  the  Sabbath,  which  undoubtedly  he 
would  have  done,  had  it  been  in  any  way  altered. 
Nay,  he  strictly  requires  all  believers  to  follow  his 
example,  as  he  followed  Christ;  and  certainly  in 
the  observation  of  the  Sabbath  he  followed  Christ. 

But  Mr.  Ward  conceives  that  Paul  only  took  the 
opportunity  to  preach  to  the  people,  because  they 
were  accustomed  to  assemble  on  the  Sabbath. 

Answer.  He  may  as  well  lay  this  crime  to  Christ, 
that  he  did  but  take  such  opportunities,  and  not  in 
conscience  toward  the  Sabbath.  It  is  proved  that 
Christ's  custom  herein  is  the  very  same  with  Paul's. 


EXAMINATION  OF  ACTS  20:    7.  125 

Such  as  say  that  Paul  only  observed  the  Sabbath 
among  the  Jews,  and  not  among  the  Gentiles,  may 
be  better  informed  if  they  will  read  Acts  13:  4, 
where  it  is  plainly  declared,  that  when  the  Jews 
were  gone  out  of  the  synagogue,  the  Gentiles  be- 
sought Paul  that  these  words  might  be  preached  to 
them  the  next  Sabbath.  Here  the  Apostle  had  the 
fairest  opportunity  that  possibly  could  be  desired, 
in  the  absence  of  the  Jews,  to  instruct  the  Gentiles 
in  a  first-day  Sabbath,  if  ever  such  a  change  had 
been  intended;  for  why  should  public  preaching  be 
deferred  till  the  next  seventh-day  Sabbath,  es- 
pecially to  the  Gentiles,  if  the  first  day  had  been  a 
Sabbath  ?  However,  it  is  manifest  that  the  next 
Sabbath  day  Paul  did  preach,  and  it  was  either  in 
answer  to  the  request  made,  or  else  the  Gentiles 
desired  him  to  preach  to  them  on  some  working 
day,  and  yet  the  Apostle  Paul  deferred  it  to  the 
known  Sabbath  day — which  would  much  more 
abundantly  testify  to  his  special  respect  for  the  sev- 
enth-day Sabbath.  This  was  sixty  years  after 
Christ,  as  historians  tell  us,  and  yet  we  have  no  ac- 
count of  a  first-day  Sabbath.  So  that,  beyond  all 
contradiction,  the  Apostle  Paul,  and  the  Christians 
with  him,  did  constantly  observe  the  seventh  day 
for  the  Sabbath,  as  Christ  himself  did;  and  as  we 
should  be  followers  of  Paul  as  he  was  of  Christ, 
so  we  must  either  press  after  our  pattern,  or  re- 
solve to  rest  in  disobedience  to  so  great  a  command- 
ment. Methinks  ins^enuous  saints  should  ever  read 
Christ's  confirmation  of  the  seventh-day  Sabbath 
in  the  Apostle's  practice,  for  undoubtedly  Paul's 
constant  custom  was  such  as  his  commission  re- 
quired. It  was  not  only  in  respect  to  the  Lord's 
Supper  that  Paul  delivered  to  the  church  by  pre- 
cept, or  precedent,  that  which  he  received  of  the 
Lord,  but  he  was  equally  as  constant  in  observing 
11* 


126  EXAMINATION  OF  ACTS  20  :    7. 

the  Lord's  Sabbath,  as  the  Lord's  Suj^per,  and  in 
requiring  the  same  church,  in  the  same  chapter,  to 
follow  him  as  he  followed  Christ. 

You  should  not  invent  arguments  contrary  to  the 
Scriptures,  to  prove  the  Apostle's  constant  observa- 
tion of  the  first  day  for  the  Sabbath,  in  order  to  jus- 
tify your  own  profaneness;  but  remember  that  you 
will  have  to  answer  for  it  at  the  great  day  of  judg- 
ment, when  it  will  be  set  fairly  before  you,  that  as 
it  was  Christ's  custom  to  observe  the  Sabbath,  even 
so  it  was  Paul's  custom,  with  the  other  apostles,  to 
keep  the  seventh  day  for  the  Sabbath,  and  that  you 
should  follow  them  as  they  followed  Christ  in  this 
duty,  which  rests  ujjoii  so  plain  a  command,  unre- 
pealed or  altered.  Ask  your  conscience  if  you  can 
judge  this  a  sufficient  answer  for  your  weekly  pol- 
lution of  the  seventh-day  Sabbath,  that  you  had 
thought  Paul  had  only  practiced  it  to  please  the 
Jews,  when  it  so  plainly  appears  that  he  did  it  pur- 
posely for  a  pattern  to  the  Gentiles.  And  that  you 
may  be  utterly  silent,  and  left  forever  without  ex- 
cuse, take  notice,  that  one  of  the  Apostle's  fairest 
patterns  for  Sabbath-keeping  was  set  before  these 
Gentile  Corinthians,  whom  he  so  strictly  enjoins  to 
follow  him  as  he  followed  Christ.  For  in  this 
famous  city  it  was,  that  this  blessed  man  abode  and 
preached  in  the  synagogue  every  Sabbath  day  for 
a  year  and  six  months,  and  persuaded  the  Jews 
and  the  Greeks.  Acts  18:  3,  4.  I  think  any  man 
may  reasonably  suppose,  that  Paul,  who  kept  every 
Sabbath  before,  had  kept  the  Sabbath  at  Antioch, 
(Acts  20 :  7 ;)  and  when  the  seventh  day  was  over, 
Paul  and  the  disciples  met  in  the  evening  of  the 
first  day,  being  about  ready  to  depart  in  the  morn- 
ing. His  readiness  to  depart  on  the  morrow,  seems 
to  imply  that  he  went  away  on  the  first  day  morn- 
ing.    For  it  seems  to  me  to  be  the  evening  after 


EXAMINATION  OF  ACTS  20  :    7.  127 

the  seventh  day,  at  which  time  of  day  was  the  be- 
ginning of  every  day  of  the  week,  and  that  Paul 
preached,  probably  from  his  being  ready  to  depart 
on  the  morrow,  that  is,  on  Sunday  morning,  till 
midnight,  and  till  break  of  day.  Then,  instead  of  a 
precedent  for  the  first  day,  as  Mr.  Ward  would 
make  it,  putting  all  those  places  in  the  Acts  to- 
gether, it  seems  to  be  a  precedent  for  keeping  the 
seventh.  And  the  breaking  of  bread,  and  Paul's 
preaching  to  the  disciples  that  evening  till  mid- 
night, seem  to  have  been  after  the  Sabbath  had 
been  kept  and  ended;  and  his  traveling  the  next 
morning,  seems  to  have  been  the  morning  of  the 
first  day  after  the  Sabbath  was  over,  which  makes 
it  appear  that  he  did  not  keep  the  first  day  for  the 
Sabbath,  but  traveled  upon  it.  So,  supposing  as 
before,  that  breaking  of  bread  imports  the  Lord's 
Supper,  which  the  disciples  came  together  for  upon 
the  first  day  of  the  week,  as  you  say,  that  might 
very  well  succeed  their  Sabbath-keeping;  and  upon 
the  evening  of  the  first  day,  upon  which  Paul  was 
to  leave  them,  the  converts  would  come  together  to 
receive  the  Lord's  Supper. 

But  admitting  this  to  be  as  claimed  by  you,  you 
have  it  recorded  but  once  that  Paul  with  the  dis- 
ciples came  together  upon  the  first  day  of  the  week 
to  break  bread;  and  if  we  should  admit,  too,  that 
that  breaking  of  bread  was  giving  and  receiving 
the  Lord's  Supper,  still  it  was  but  one  instance, 
which  was  never  yet  understood  to  be  sufficient  to 
make  a  new  law,  or  repeal  an  old  one;  and  it  would 
be  very  dangerous  to  affirm  that  once  receiving  the 
Lord's  Supper  by  the  apostles  and  those  disciples 
who  were  at  Troas,  and  that  upon  a  special  occa- 
sion, should  have  the  force  of  law  to  all  the  world, 
in  all  ages,  to  alter  and  repeal  one  of  God's  ten 
commandments. 


128  EXAMINATION  OF  ACTS  20  I    7. 

I  farther  answer,  that  it  is  likely  that  Paul,  abid- 
ing seven  days  at  Troas,  (Acts  20 :  6,)  kept  the  Sab- 
bath there,  as  his  manner  was,  and  in  tlie  evening, 
when  the  first  day  began,  (as  every  other  day  of 
the  week  did  begin  in  the  evening,)  the  disciples 
came  together  to  break  bread.  That  it  was  the 
custom  of  the  early  churches  to  do  so,  I  have 
the  opinion  of  a  whole  Synod.  See  Lucius'  Eccle- 
siastical History,  pp.  313 — 315;  Basil,  1624.  This 
breaking  of  bread  might  have  been  to  receive 
the  Lord's  Supper  together,  or  it  might  have  been 
only  for  a  common  meal  or  supper,  for  neither 
is  positively  or  particularly  expressed.  It  may 
be  that  it  was  but  a  common  meal,  because  in 
Acts  27 :  35,  the  same  words  are  used  for  Paul's 
breaking  bread  in  the  ship  with  the  soldiers  and 
seamen,  who  were  heathen,  and  his  fellow- 
prisoners.  The  history  there  shows  that  it  was  a 
common  meal,  and  I  take  it  that  it  is  so  understood 
by  expositors.  Indeed,  in  this  very  chapter,  when 
Paul  had  broken  bread  and  eaten,  he  departed ; 
which  may  be  the  same  breaking  of  bread  men- 
tioned in  verse  7.  The  same  word  for  breaking 
bread  is  used  in  Matt.  14:  19,  where  Christ  fed  a 
multitude  with  five  loaves  and  two  fishes,  which 
was  before  the  institution  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 
The  same  word  is  used  also  in  Matt.  15 :  36.  Also  at 
another  miraculous  feeding  of  a  multitude,  in  Mark 
8 :  6,  19,  which  could  not  be  the  Supper,  being  be- 
fore the  institution  thereof.  So  that,  comparing 
Acts  20  :  7  with  20  :  11  and  27  :  35,  and  Matt.  15 :  36, 
and  Mark  8:  6,  19,  it  seems  that  it  might  have  been 
a  common  meal.  But  suppose  it  were  the  Lord's 
Supper,  it  is  likely  that  Paul,  having  kept  the  Sab- 
bath with  them,  as  his  manner  was,  and  intending 
to  go  the  next  morning,  they  would  meet  together 
at  evening  for  the  Lord's  Supper;  and  after  supper 


EXAMINATION  OF  ACTS  20:    7.  129 

that  Paul  preached  to  them,  and  talked  long,  till 
break  of  day,  and  then  departed — which  would  be 
the  first  day  morning. 

But  the  coming  together  of  the  disciples  might 
have  been  as  friends  commonly  do  when  a  minister, 
or  any  other  special  acquaintance,  intends  to  take  a 
journey  in  the  morning,  to  sup  with  them  over  night. 
I  see  no  substantial  reason  to  the  contrary,  for  the 
sermon  at  Troas  was  only  occasional.  The  dis- 
ciples hearing  of  Paul's  departure  from  them,  and 
that  they  should  see  his  face  no  more,  could  do  no 
less  than  give  him  a  visit  over  night,  and  sup  with 
him  ;  and  he  could  do  no  less  than  give  them  a  fare- 
well sermon.  So  that  this  sermon,  being  occasional, 
cannot  bind  us  but  on  the  like  occasions,  if  even  so 
much.  This  sermon  was  extraordinary,  that  meet- 
ing being  on  occasifon  of  Paul's  departure  from 
them,  never  to  see  their  faces  more.  Acts  20:  38. 
Now  if  you  will  follow  an' extraordinary  thing,  and 
jDreach  from  candle-lighting  until  midnight — if  you 
take  Paul's  pi-eaching  until  midnight  as  an  ex- 
ample, binding  you  to  do  the  like — then  you,  sir, 
and  other  ministers,  must  preach  every  first  day 
from  candle-lighting  until  midnight,  for  so  did 
Paul.  But  if  you  will  say  that  to  preach  till  mid- 
night is  extraordinary,  then  I  say  so  was  this  meet- 
ing, for  we  read  not  that  Paul  did  preach  at  Troas 
above  this  one  single  time  either  before  or  after. 
But  our  question  is  of  the  Sabbath  day^  not  of  the 
night  time.  Now,  instead  of  a  text  which  speaks 
of  the  day,  Mr.  Ward  alledges  this  text  which 
speaks  of  the  night.  They  therefore  who  alledge 
this  text  for  the  day,  are  benighted,  and  are  wo- 
fally  in  the  darkness  of  the  night.  Supposing, 
however,  that  the  text  had  spoken  of  the  day,  yet  it 
will  not  prove  the  first  day  to  be  the  Sabbath,  or 
that  it  is  to  be  constantly  and  weekly  kept.     This 


130  EXAMINATIOxN  OF  ACTS  20:    7. 

sermon  of  Paul  cannot  raise  the  day  any  higher 
than  a  common  lecture  day;  for  on  our  lecture  days 
we  have  a  sermon  also,  yet  they  are  working  days. 

But  admitting  all  that  you  claim,  can  you  prove 
that  Paul  preached  this  sermon  in  obedience  to  the 
fourth  commandment^  That  calls  for  the  seventh 
day;  but  this  is  the  first  day.  The  seventh  day  is 
at  the  end  of  the  week;  but  this  is  at  the  beginning 
of  the  week.  You  are  as  far  aside  as  the  end  of  a 
thing  is  from  the  beginning  of  it.  True  it  is,  that  you 
would  fain  steal  away  the  fourth  commandment 
from  the  seventh  day,  to  clothe  your  naked  first 
day,  because  you  have  no  command  for  it. 

And  who  would  have  thought  that  Mr.  Ward, 
who  seemed  so  hard  to  please,  that  the  twentieth 
chapter  of  Exodus,  and  the  whole  body  of  the 
Scripture  that  pleads  for  the*seventh-day  Sabbath, 
w^ould  not  satisfy  him,  should  now  take  up  fully  sat- 
isfied with  nothing  1 — that  he  should  refuse  the  au- 
thority of  God's  Word  for  the  seventh-day  Sabbath, 
and  then  feed  on  his  own  presumptuous  conceit 
about  a  new  day  of  worship  1 — concluding  that  this 
example  hath  the  force  of  a  command  in  itl 
So  if  this  man  were  at  Rome,  whither  would  this 
principle  carry  him,  but  to  all  the  ceremonies  of 
their  church]  But  such  as  follow  examples  with- 
out a  command,  do  make  themselves  examples  for 
others  to  be  warned  by.  Besides,  if  we  should  take 
the  observance  of  the  first  day  from  the  example 
of  this  supposed  meeting  only,  we  should  entangle 
ourselves  with  the  ceremonies  and  the  law  of  Moses. 
For  by  the  same  rule  men  might  plead,  with  much 
more  consistency,  for  circumcision,  the  feast  of  Pen- 
tecost, unleavened  bread,  and  many  more  ceremo- 
nies, from  the  example  of  Paul  and  others  in  prim- 
itive times. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  collection  "on  the  fii-st  day"  considered. 

"Now  concerning  the  collection  for  the  saints,  as  I  have  given 
order  to  the  churches  of  Galatia,  even  so  do  ye.  Upon  the 
first  cky  of  the  vi^eek  let  eveiy  one  of  you  lay  by  him  in  store, 
as  God  hath  prospered  him,  that  there  be  no  gatherings  when 
I  come.  And  when  I  come,  whomsoever  ye  shall  approve 
by  your  letters,  them  will  I  send  to  bring  your  liberality  unto 
.Temsdem."     1  Cor.  16:  1—3. 

'*  And  in  these  days  came  prophets  from  Jenisalem  unto  Antioch; 
and  there  stood  up  one  of  them,  named  Agabus,  and  signified 
by  the  Spirit,  that  there  should  l^e  great  dearth  throughout  all 
the  w^orld,  which  came  to  pass  in  the  days  of  Claudius  Caesar. 
Then  the  disciples,  every  man  according  to  his  ability,  deter- 
mined to  send  relief  unto  the  brethren  which  dwelt  in  Judea, 
which  also  they  did,  and  sent  it  to  the  elders  by  the  hands  of 
Bm-nabas  and  Saul."     Acts  11:  27—30. 

What  a  likeness  there  is  between  these  two 
places!  I  can  see  very  little  difference;  and  that 
little  yields  nothing  at  all  for  Mr.  Ward's  purpose. 
Any  man  who  will  read  it  carefully  may  easily  see, 
that  there  is  not  one  word  of  any  weekly  Sabbath, 
or  rest,  or  of  any  preaching,  or  any  such  thing; 
not  one  such  word,  either  at  Corinth  or  Galatia, 
but  quite  the  contrary,  that  is,  an  order  that  they 
should  every  one  of  them  lay  by  in  store  for  the 
poor  saints  at  Jerusalem,  before  the  famine  should 
come,  which  was  to  be  two  or  three  years  after.  In 
2  Cor.  9  :  2,  Paul  said,  *'  Achaia  was  ready  a  year 
ago;"  and  others  also  were  forward  or  ready  a  year 
before.  2  Cor.  8 :  10.  But  there  is  not  one  word 
in  this  order  of  the  Apostle  to  keep  holy  the  first 
day — nothing  of  that  day  as  a  Sabbath — no  pray- 
ing, or  preaching,  or  any  worship,  or  resting — 
but  only  an  order  for  every  one  of  the  Christians 


132  THE  COI,Lr,CTIO\  ON 

to  lay  by  himself  in  store,  (as  some  translators  read 
it,)  as  God  had  prospered  him,  which  seems  to 
mean  when  they  were  at  home.  But  this  includes 
the  casting  up  of  their  accounts  on  that  day,  and 
counting  their  money,  and  reckoning  how  much 
their  stock  is  increased,  and  what  can  be  reasonably 
spared  from  their  necessary  expenses — that  there 
might  be  no  gathering  when  Paul  came.  And  this, 
I  think  any  one  who  reads  the  text  without  preju- 
dice, may  easily  see  and  know.  So  that  for  any 
one  to  say  that  he  thinks  it  plain  from  this  that  the 
first  day  was  observed  weekly  at  Corinth  and  Gala- 
tia,  without  any  better  authority  for  it,  seems  to  be 
acting  from  a  strongly  biased  mind,  and  very 
blamable,  as  well  as  imposing  on  his  hearers. 

Now  if  the  first  day  of  the  week  had  been  the 
Sabbath,  surely  the  Apostle,  knowing  the  proneness 
of  our  nature  to  mind  earthly  things,  would  not 
have  put  upon  them  the  consideration  of  their  out- 
ward estates,  but  would  have  bid  them  set  their 
affections  on  things  above,  and  not  on  things  on  the 
earth.     Col.  3:  2. 

Several  things  here  deserve  consideration : — 

1st.  Where  read  you,  in  the  Scriptures,  that  col- 
lection for  the  poor  was  an  ordinance  appointed  or 
commanded  to  be  done  on  the  Sabbath  day?  May 
it  not  be  done  on  any  day  of  the  week  1  How  then 
gather  you  from  it  that  the  day  whereon  it  was  done 
was  a  Sabbath  day] 

2d.  The  direction  which  Paul  gives  for  this  col- 
lection, shows  evidently  that  he  intends  it  for  no 
Sabbath  day's  work ;  for  there  is  not  the  least  hint 
of  any  assembly,  though  custom  hath  so  far  pre- 
vailed with  most  whom  I  have  met  with,  that  they 
frequently  urge  the  text  thus,  "Upon  the  first 
day  of  the  week,  when  ye  come  together" — though 
there   are   no  such   words  as  coming    together  in 


THE  FIRST  DAY  CONSIDERED.  133 

the  text,  but  simply,  "Let  every  one  of  you  lay 
by  him  in  store  as  God  hath  prospered  him." 

3d.  The  Apostle  doth  not  enjoin  them  to  hold  a 
church  meeting,  nor  to  lay  it  before  the  deacons,  as 
doubtless  he  would  have  done  had  there  been  a 
church  meeting  on  that  day.  "  But  let  every  one 
of  you  lay  by  him  in  store;"  that  is,  at  his  own 
house,  in  the  poor's  box,  which  every  tender-hearted 
Christian  should  have,  with  some  stock  ahvays  by 
him  for  charitable  uses.    Tim.  6  :  17, 18  ;  Titus  3  :  14. 

4th.  The  Apostle  exhorts  every  man  to  take  ac- 
count of  his  own  estate,  that  he  may  give  hereafter, 
which  doth  notably  overthrow  the  conceit  of  a  first- 
day  Sabbath ;  for  he  orders  every  man  '  to  lay  some- 
thing by  him  in  store,  as  God  hath  prospered  him;' 
that  is,  according  as  his  yearly  revenue  increaseth, 
or  his  weekly  trade  proveth  more  or  less  gainful. 

I  deny,  therefore,  that  there  was  any  collection, 
meeting  or  sermon  on  that  day.  Indeed,  if  there 
was  no  collection  made,  then  there  could  have  been 
no  meeting  or  sermon,  for  these  two  are  supposed 
to  be  by  reason  that  there  was  a  collection  made 
for  the  poor.  But  there  was  no  collection  made, 
for  Paul  did  only  speak  of  a  collection,  and  de- 
signed but  to  prepare  them  for  a  collection  to  be 
afterwards  made.  Now  it  is  one  thing  for  a  man 
to  lay  up  money  by  himself,  and  another  to  give 
money  as  in  a  collection.  So  you  may  see  that 
here  was  no  collection  made  on  this  first  day  of 
the  week,  but  the  collection  was  to  be  made  after- 
ward, at  what  time  Paul  should  send  the  brethren 
to  gather  it.     2  Cor.  9  :   1,3,  5. 

But  suppose  there  once  was  a  collection  on  this 
first  day,  yet  it  was  not  a  constant  weekly  collec- 
tion; for  Paul  saith,  there  should  be  no  gathering 
when  he  came  among  them,  as  it  is  in  the  text. 
Hence  this  collection,  and  meeting,  and  sermon 
12 


134  THE  COLLECTION  ON 

built  thereon,  could  be  no  weekly  thing,  and  there- 
fore no  weekly  Sabbath.  As  this  collection  must 
cease  when  Paul  came  to  this  church  at  Corinth, 
how  could  it  be  weekly] 

If  there  was  a  collection  for  the  poor,  yet  it  was 
not  an  ordinary,  but  an  extraordinary  thing;  for  it 
was  not  their  own  poor  in  the  church  of  Corinth, 
but  the  poor  of  a  foreign  church — the  poor  at  Jeru- 
salem— as  it  was  once  in  England  when  we  had  a 
collection  for  the  poor  distressed  Palatines,  that  lay 
at  Black  Heath,  in  Queen  Anne's  reign ;  but  this 
was  only  once,  it  was  not  a  weekly  thing,  as  our 
collections  are  for  the  poor.  Extraordinary  things 
bind  not  us  to  ordinary  practice. 

Supposing,  but  not  granting,  that  there  was  a 
collection,  a  meeting,  and  a  sermon,  yet  these  will 
not  raise  this  first  day  higher  than  a  common  lec- 
ture day.  This  shows  how  sadly  they  are  put  to  it, 
who  will  say  something  for  their  first-day  Sabbath, 
and  yet  can  say  no  better.  For  although  they  make 
some  show  of  Scripture,  yet  it  only  amounts  to  a 
bare  endeavor  to  draw  support  for  an  unwarrant- 
able Sabbath  from  any  text  that  doth  but  mention 
the  first  day  of  the  week. 

Question,  Why  would  Paul  have  this  done  on  the 
first  day  of  the  week? 

Answer.  It  hath  been  clearly  shown,  that  Paul's 
constant  practice  was  to  preach  on  the  seventh-day 
Sabbath  ;  also  that  it  was  the  example  which  he  set 
before  this  church  of  Corinth ;  and  they  being  the 
fruit  of  his  Sabbath  labors,  were  enjoined  to  follow 
him  as  he  followed  Christ.  So  that,  if  we  can  be- 
lieve they  walked  in  Paul's  practice  in  keeping  the 
true  Sabbath,  we  may  easily  judge  that  Paul's 
epistle  was  read  in  the  churches  at  their  solemn 
assembly  on  the  Sabbath  day,  when  we  doubt  not 


THE  FIRST  DAY  CONSIDERED.  135 

the  teachers  would  stir  up  the  people  to  liberality, 
according  to  the  Apostle's  order ;  and  the  more  so, 
seeing  he  closed  his  epistle  with  it,  that  it  might  sit 
close  and  warm  upon  their  hearts.  And  forasmuch 
as  they  were  not  likely  to  be  so  well  stored  at  the 
meeting  upon  the  Sabbath,  he  would  have  it  to  be 
their  first  work  on  the  next  day,  while  the  sweet 
sense  of  the  epistle,  and  the  heavenly  relish  of  gos- 
pel sermons  and  other  ordinances  which  they  had  en- 
joyed the  day  before,  were  yet  fresh  and  pleasant 
upon  their  spirits,  and  before  they  had  launched 
into  their  weekly  employm.cnts,  which  is  apt  to  put 
too  great  a  damper  upon  our  best  purposes.  Paul 
would  therefore  especially  make  choice  of  the  first 
day  of  thf;  week,  and  have  them  make  it  their  first 
business,  next  to  the  consideration  of  how  God  had 
prospered  them  in  worldly  goods,  to  present  unto 
God  in  secret,  by  themselves,  the  first  fruits  of  their 
increase,  for  the  refreshing  of  the  poor  saints,  and 
as  an  earnest  of  their  duties  toward  God,  unto 
whom  they  owed  all.  Thus  with  very  good  reason 
might  the  Apostle  make  choice  of  the  first  day  of 
the  week  for  this  duty.  But  to  assert  that  the  first 
day  was  the  Sabbath,  because  Paul  ordered  every 
man  to  lay  by  him  something  for  the  poor  saints — 
there  being  not  the  least  mention  of  a  church  meet- 
ing on  that  day — is  altogether  irrational,  and  utterly 
unscriptural. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

The  argument  for  the  change  fi'om  Christ's  being  Lord  of  the 
Sabbath,  considered. 

Mr.  Ward  concludes,  from  Mark  2 :  28,  because 
Christ  is  called  Lord  of  the  Sabbath,  that  there- 
fore he  mig-ht  change  it.  But  the  question  still  re- 
mains. Did  Christ  change  it]  If  he  did,  let  it 
be  shown ;  if  not,  let  it  not  be  affirmed.  Again, 
I  humbly  conceive  that  a  man  may  be  lord  of  what 
he  may  not  change.  God  hath  made  man  lord  of 
his  wife.  Gen.  3:  16;  1  Cor.  14:  34;  1  Peter  3 : 
5,  6.  But  may  the  man  change  his  \vife,  or  do 
with  her  what  he  pleases.  Nay,  methinks  we  may 
rather  argue,  from  Christ's  being  Lord  of  the  Sab- 
bath, his  engagement  to  keep  and  take  care  of  it, 
and  to  maintain  it,  as  he  doth  his  people,  and  as  the 
husband  doth  his  wife.  Eph.  5 :  22 — 29.  And  so 
he  seems  to  do,  when  he  is  so  careful  that  his  dis- 
ciples, who  were  to  be  put  to  flight,  should  not  fly 
either  in  the  winter,  because  that  is  tedious  to 
their  bodies,  or  on  the  Sabbath  day.  Matt.  24:  20. 
And  no  less  was  the  care  of  this  tender  shepherd 
for  the  souls  of  his  saints,  whom  he  bears  in  his 
bosom,  than  for  their  bodies.  Therefore  he  adds 
this  to  their  forty  years'  prayers,  that  they  might 
not,  foi? 'the  preservation  of  their  bodies,  be  put  to 
flight  on  the  Sabbath  day,  to  the  dishonor  of  God, 
and  the  troubling  of  their  spirits,  in  profaning  the 
Sabbath  which  was  designed  for  the  good  of  their 
souls.  It  cannot  well  be  imagined,  that  Christ  would 
be  so  careful  about  securing  the  Sabbath  at  such 
time  as  all  the  ceremonies  would  be  abolished  by 


CHRIST  THE  LORD  OF  THE  SABBATH.  137 

the  apostolical  proclamation,  (Col.  2:  16,  17,)  had 
it  been  ceremonial.  And  yet  it  is  imagined  by  Mr. 
Ward,  that  the  disciples  were  only  to  avoid  fleeing 
on  the  Sabbath  by  way  of  preventing  the  Jews' 
persecution !  Just  as  if  Vespasian's  armies,  and 
Titus'  engines,  should  strike  no  more  terror  to  the 
Jews,  than  that  they,  instead  of  securing  them- 
selves, should  trifle  away  their  time  in  persecuting 
the  Christians  for  makins;-  their  flio;-ht  on  the  Sab- 
bath  day! 

As  our  Redeemer  thus  generally  and  particularly 
owned  this  Sabbath  by  his  word,  so  he  gloriously 
crowned  it  above  all  other  days  by  his  mighty 
works,  even  such  miracles  as  never  man  wrought. 
Matt.  11:  20.  If  then  those  cities  were  most  hon- 
ored and  esteemed  where  his  mighty  works  were 
done,  upon  the  same  account  is  that  day  to  be  most 
highly  esteemed  which  Christ  crowned  with  his 
greatest  wonders.  God  forbid  that  gospel  saints 
should  side  with  envious  Saducees,  in  reproaching 
our  Saviour  for  putting  forth  his  glory  on  that 
blessed  day;  but  rather,  with  heightened  affec- 
tions, let  the  Sabbath  be  religiously  observed, 
v/hereon  such  divine  virtue  was  shown.  Neither 
doth  our  Saviour  cease  to  honor  the  Sabbath;  but 
having  owned  it  by  his  words,  and  crowned  it  with 
his  works,  his  constant  care,  both  in  life  and  in 
death,  was  to  leave  a  lively  precedent  for  his  peo- 
ple to  walk  by. 

To  say  that  Christ  Jesus  did  change  the  Sabbath, 
or  make  it  void,  and  not  be  able  to  prove  it,  is  to 
bear  false  witness  against  Christ  himself,  who  was 
faithful  in  all  his  house,  even  as  Moses  is  said  to 
have  been  faithful  in  his  house.  Heb.  3 :  2,  5,  6. 
Now  we  know  that  Moses  hath  most  expressly  set 
down,  from  time  to  time,  the  solemn  season  in  which 
his  house  should  assemble  and  worship  God.  But 
12* 


138      CHRIST  THE  LORD  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

of  the  Sabbath  being  changed,  Christ  never  spoke 
one  word  to  his  house;  nay,  on  the  contrary,  he 
declai-es,  that  as  long  as  heaven  and  earth  lasted, 
his  disciples  must  not  break  one  jot  or  tittle  of  these 
lively  oracles  which  Israel  received  from  Sinai  to 
give  unto  us.  Acts  7 :  3S,  Yea,  in  particular, 
Christ  owned  the  seventh-day  Sabbath  as  his,  and 
left  it  under  his  hand,  and  sealed  it  by  his  miracles, 
and  with  tender  fatherly  care  required  his  house  to 
pray  that  they  might  not  be  forced  to  flee  upon  it 
forty  years  after  his  death. 

As  for  the  day  which  Sabbath-changers  accept 
and  advocate  for  their  Sabbath,  Christ  never  gave 
them  one  syllable  of  a  precept  for  it;  and  for  a  pre- 
cedent, it  hath  plainly  appeared,  that  he  journeyed 
freely  fifteen  miles  upon  it;  so  that,  if  the  Sabbath 
be  changed,  Christ  is  far  enough  from  Moses'  faith- 
fulness in  all  his  house.  But  farther,  how  dreadful 
is  it  to  father  that  change  of  the  Sabbath  upon  the 
precious  Son  of  God,  which  is  the  detestable  design 
and  work  of  the  little  horn,  the  changer  of  times 
and  laws  spoken  of  in  Dan.  7:  25.  What!  charge 
that  upon  Christ  which  is  the  proper  designation 
of  Antichrist?  Is  not  this  the  whore  of  Babylon's 
mark,  that  she  should  change  the  saints'  times'? 
Suitable  is  that  word  in  this  case,  "  Remove  from 
me  the  way  of  lying,  and  grant  me  thy  law 
graciously."  Ps.  119:  29.  In  saying  that  Jesus 
Christ  changed  the  Sabbath,  you  make  him  a  trans- 
gressor. And  so,  since  there  is  no  other  way  in  the 
world  to  prove  your  opinion,  rather  than  fail,  you 
will  make  Jesus,  the  Saviour,  an  actual  sinner;  and 
then  he  could  be  no  Saviour — at  which  attempt, 
what  heart  will  not  tremble  ] 


CHAPTER  XV. 

» 

Argument  from  the  day  of  Pentecost,  spoken  of  in  Acts  2 :  1,  2 — 
"And  when  the  day  of  Pentecost  was  fully  come,  they  were 
all  with  one  accord  in  one  place.  And  suddenly  there  came  a 
sound  from  heaven,  as  of  a  nishing  mighty  wind,  and  it  filled 
all  the  house  where  they  were  sitting." 

On  this  text  Mr.  Ward  glories  not  a  little  ;  for  he 
says,  '  Upon  the  first  day  of  the  week  the  Holy 
Ghost  descended,  and  Peter  preached  a  sermon, 
and  there  were  three  thousand  souls  converted,  and 
they  were  baptized,  and  continued  steadfast  in 
the  apostles'  doctrine,  and  followship,  and  break- 
ing of  bread,  and  in  prayer;  wherefore  we  call  this 
<lay  our  Christian  Sabbath.' 

1  may  here  say,  that  it  is  under  dispute  whether 
this  day  of  Pentecost  occurred  that  year  on  the  first 
day,  or  on  the  fifth  day,  or  on  the  seventh ;  for  in 
keeping  Pentecost  the  day  of  the  month  changed 
the  day  of  the  week  every  year,  and  could  not  be 
on  the  first  day  two  years  together.  But  waiving 
this  controversy,  I  answer: 

1st.  Will  you  now  turn  Jew?  You  have  often 
branded  us  as  Jews,  yet  we  advocate  nothing  but 
the  Lord's  seventh-day  Sabbath,  the  law  of  which 
he  wrote  on  tables  of  stone.  But  you  now  advo- 
cate the  Pentecost,  confessed  of  all  men  to  be  a 
Jewish  feast  day,  and  one  of  the  abolished  ceremo- 
nial Sabbath  days,  the  law  of  which  was  never 
written  on  stone,  and  the  observation  of  which  was 
plainly  condemned  by  St.  Paul.  Col.  2 :  16.  If 
my  opinion  be  an  error,  it  is  like  a  mole-hill ;  but,  cer- 
tainly, your  opinion  is  an  error  as  big  as  a  mountain. 
Pentecost  was  a  movable  feast  day;  falling  some- 
times on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  and  sometimes 


140  ARGUMENT  FROM  THE  DAY 

on  the  second,  third,  or  fourth  day.  Now  when 
God  commanded  this  Sabbath  day,  under  the  name 
Pentecost,  or  fiftieth  day,  (Lev.  23  :  15,  16,)  he  had 
no  regar^  unto  the  first,  the  second,  or  the  third  day^ 
but  unto  Pentecost,  or  fiftieth  day.  The  sacrifices 
offered  on  that  day,  were  to  sanctify  Pentecost,  the 
fiftieth  day,  for  a  Sabbath;  not  to  sanctify  the  first 
day  of  the  week,  even  if  it  fell  on  the  first  day. 
And  if  these  things  did  sanctify  the  day  in  which 
they  were  done,  then  they  did  sanctify  Pentecost, 
the  fiftieth  jiay,  for  a  Sabbath,  not  the  first  day  of 
the  week,  though  it  fell  on  this  day.  Thus  the 
Holy  Ghost  doth  mention  Pentecost  day,  (Acts  2;  1,) 
not  the  Lord's  day,  nor  the  first  day  of  the  week. 
Now  we  are  to  conclude,  that  he  intended  the  day 
mentioned  by  him,  not  the  first  day  of  the  week, 
which  he  mentioned  not.  When  we  keep  Christ- 
mas day,  though  it  falls  on  the  fifth  or  sixth  day  of 
the  week,  Ave  celebrate  that  day  as  Christmas  day, 
not  as  the  fifth  or  sixth  day.  So  the  Holy  Ghost, 
naming  Pentecost  day,  had  respect  to  it  as  Pente- 
cost day,  not  as  the  first  day  of  the  week.  There- 
fore if  Peter's  sermon  did  sanctify  the  day  as  a 
Sabbath,  then  was  an  abolished  feast  day  made  a 
Sabbath — which  is  gross  Judaism.  Shall  this  day 
be  your  "  Christian  Sabbath  ?" 

2d.  This  day  cannot  stand  by  the  fourth  com- 
mandment, for  the  fourth  commandment  requires  a 
weekly  day,  but  Pentecost  was  a  yearly  day. 

3d.  The  fourth  commandment  requires  the  sev- 
enth day,  but  Pentecost  was  the  fiftieth  day. 

4th.  Christ  did  not  command  Peter  to  preach  on 
Pentecost  day,  and  therefore  it  had  no  precej)t,  and 
was  but  an  example.  Now  example,  without  a  com- 
mand, binds  us  not.  But  if  I  should  grant  that  this 
example  binds  us,  yet  it  could  not  bind  us  to  a 
weekly  day,  but  at  most  to  a  yearly  day. 


OF  PENTECOST  CONSIDERED.  141 

5th.  The  sermon  of  Peter  was  not  to  keep  a  Sab- 
bath, but  was  merely  occasional ;  and  therefore  it 
binds  us  not,  but  on  like  extraordinary  occasions, 
and  then  as  much  unto  any  other  day  of  the  week 
as  to  the  first  day,  if  there  happen  the  like  occa- 
sion upon  any  other  day.  On  this  day  of  Pen- 
tecost the  apostles  were  miraculously  filled  with 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  spake  with  strange 
tongues,  insomuch  that  some  men  were  astonished  at 
it,  while  others  mocked  at  it,  and  slandered  the  apos- 
tles, saying  that  they  were  drunken  or  full  of  new 
wine.  Nowtheie  was  a  very  great  occasion  for  Peter 
to  preach  this  sermon,  partly  to  inform  and  instruct 
those  who  were  amazed  and  doubted,  and  partly  to 
confute  those  who  mocked  at  the  apostles  as  if  they 
had  been  drunken.  There  was  occasion  enough  for 
Peter  to  preach  his  sermon  on  this  Pentecost  day, 
though  he  had  no  respect  unto  the  day  as  a  Sabbath. 

Mr.  Ward  says  that  we  have  the  examples  of  the 
apostles,  who  preached  on  the  first  day  of  the  week, 
broke  bread  or  received  the  Lord's  Supper  on  the  first 
day,  and  made  collections  for  the  poor  on  that  day. 

Answer.  The  good  old  rule  is,  that  we  live  not  by 
examples,  but  by  precept,  and  by  examples  which 
come  under  some  command  or  other.  The  exam- 
ple of  Paul  preaching  until  midnight,  (Acts  20 :  7,) 
binds  not  us  to  the  like,  Christ  preached  on  a  moun- 
tain, (Matt.  5:1;)  and  they  that  had  lands  or  houses 
sold  them  for  the  poor,  (Acts  4  :  34.)  But  these  ex- 
amples bind  not.  The  apostles  received  the  Lord's 
Supper  with  Christ  on  the  fourth  day  night ;  but  this 
binds  not  us.  The  like  I  may  say  of  the  examples 
of  the  apostles  alledged  for  the  first  day;  they  bind 
us  not  to  do  the  like,  because  they  are  without  any 
precept,  for  there  is  no  command  for  the  first  day 
of  the  week  to  be  the  Sabbath  in  the  Scriptures. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Examination  of  Mr.  Ward's  interpretation  of  Rom.  14:  5 — "One 
man  esteemeth  one  day  above  another;  another  esteemeth 
eveiy  day  ahke."  Also  of  Gal.  4:  10,  11 — "  Ye  observe  days, 
and  months,  and  times,  and  years ;  I  am  afraid  of  you,  lest  1 
have  bestowed  upon  you  labor  in  vain." 

Mr.  Ward  concludes,  from  Rom.  14:  5 — "One 
man  esteemeth  one  day  above  anomer;  another  es- 
teemeth every  day  alike" — that  the  Sabbath  is  made 
common  with  other  days,  because  this  was  some 
day  of  great  esteem  that  the  Apostle  spoke  of. 

Answer — 1st.  As  it  is  said  that  one  man  esteemeth 
one  day  above  another,  so  it  is  said  that  another 
man  esteemeth  every  day  alike ;  and  then  it  will 
follow,  by  your  way  of  reasoning,  that  every  day 
was  of  great  esteem,  and  a  like  great  esteem,  and 
those  that  esteemed  every  day  alike  were  the 
greatest  observres  of  days.  There  is  the  same  word 
esteem  to  one  as  to  the  other;  and  if  every  day  be 
alike,  what  will  become  of  your  first  day,  which  you 
say  hath  the  force  of  a  command  for  it? 

2d.  Paul  might  speak  here,  not  of  the  seventh 
day,  but  of  the  first  day,  for  neither  of  the  two 
days  are  mentioned  in  the  text;  and  I  have  as 
much  liberty  to  suppose  the  one,  as  Mr.  Ward  has 
to  suppose  the  other,  there  being  no  command  in 
all  the  New  Testament  for  the  first  day  of  the 
week  to  be  the  Sabbath.  Therefore  it  is  but  an  in- 
different thing,  and  may  be  ranked  among  things 
indifferent  in  this  chapter;  as  if  Paul  had  said, 
One  man  esteemeth  the  first  day  above  another 
day,  and  another  man  esteemeth  every  day  alike. 


EXAMINATION  OF  ROMANS   14:    5.  143 

If  you  will  take  the  words  every  day  in  their  largest 
sense,  then  they  include  the  first  day,  for  the  six 
working  days  are  called  every  day  in  the  Scriptures, 
in  distinction  from  the  seventh  day.  Ex.  IG:  4. 
Then  the  first  day  is  no  Sabbath,  for  every  one 
of  the  six  working  days  are  alike. 

3d.  That  by  day  here  is  meant  the  day  men- 
tioned in  the  law,  and  written  on  tables  of  stone, 
cannot  be  proved.  If  you  will  understand  this 
text  of  the  Jewish  days  once  commanded,  then 
the  text  may  be  understood  of  ceremonial  days, 
which  were  never  written  on  tables  of  stone ; 
and  it  is  most  likely  so  to  be,  for  in  this  chap- 
ter Paul  speaks  of  meats  also,  which  never 
were  written  on  tables  of  stone.  But  if  you 
include  the  weekly  Sabbath  in  the  text,  then  you 
make  the  fourth  commandment  to  stand  for  a  cypher 
in  the  Bible ;  and  so,  like  those  wicked  priests,  you 
are  partial  in  the  law  of  God.  Mai.  2  :  9.  There- 
fore you  shall  be  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
for  teaching  men  to  break  the  commandments  of 
God.     Matt.  5  :   19. 

4th.  By  day  here  we  need  not  understand  the 
Sabbath  day,  but  fasting  days;  some  esteeming  one 
day  above  another  to  fast  upon.  The  Jews  had 
certain  days  to  fast  upon  not  commanded.  The 
Pharisees  fasted  twice  in  the  week.  Luke  18 :  .12. 
The  disciples  of  John  fasted  often.  Matt.  9 :  14. 
The  Jews  had  voluntary  fasts  in  the  fifth  month  and 
in  the  seventh  month.  Zech.  7:  5,  8 :  19.  St. 
Paul  therefore  might  speak  of  the  fasting  days,  for 
aught  you  know,  which  some  esteemed,  and  others 
regarded  not. 

5th.  By  day  here  may  be  understood  such  days 
as  the  Gentiles  and  Romans  used  when  they  were 
idolaters;  some  of  them  thinking,  doubtless,  thai 
it  was  good  to  fast  and  to  worship  God  on  the  days 


144  EXAMINATION  OF  GALATIANS   4:    10,   11. 

upon  which  they  were  wont  to  serve  their  idols, 
and  some  esteeming  one  of  those  days  above  an- 
other. In  Paul's  time  some  Christians  did  eat  meat 
offered  in  sacrifice  to  idols,  (1  Cor.  8:  1,  7;  10: 
25,  28,)  as  they  were  wont  to  do  when  they  were 
idolaters  j  and  of  such  meats  it  is  quite  likely  that 
Paul  speaks  in  Rom.  14:  15.  Now  as  they  used 
idolaters'  rrteats,  so  it  is  possible  that  they  used  idol- 
aters' days,  one  man  esteeming  some  of  them, 
while  another  regarded  others ;  and  of  these  days 
Paul  might  speak  to  the  believing  Galatians,  as  you 
may  see  in  the  text. 

Mr.  Ward  urges  as  an  objection  against  the  Sab- 
bath day,  Gal.  4  :  10,  11 — "Ye  observe  days,  and 
months,  and  times,  and  years;  I  am  afraid  of  you, 
lest  I  have  bestowed  upon  you  labor  in  vain." 
Here,  says  he,  all  Jewish  days  and  times  are 
spoken  against. 

Answer.  I  grant  that  all  Jewish  days  may  be  here 
spoken  against;  but  the  text  speaks  not  of  the  sev- 
enth-day Sabbath,  concerning  which  God  wrote  on 
tables  of  stone.  We  find  nothing  of  those  days, 
months,  times,  and  years,  on  the  tables  of  stone 
mentioned  in  Ex.  31 :  18.  And  yet,  by  days  here 
you  judge  that  the  Apostle  intends  the  weekly  Sab- 
bath. Now  there  are  just  seven  days  in  all,  and  the 
seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord;  yet  against 
this  day,  rather  than  any  other  of  the  six  days,  must 
the  Apostle's  words  be  turned,  as  if  it  had  been 
Paul's  business  to  speak  against  the  Sabbath,  which 
was  enforced  by  the  law  written  with  the  finger  of 
God  on  the  tables  of  stone ;  yea,  against  that  law 
by  which  Paul  himself  was  convinced  of  sin.  Rom. 
7 :  7.  And  against  the  error  of  those  who  went 
about  to  make  it  void,  he  prays.    Moreover,  he  him- 


EXAMINATION  OF  GALATIANS  4:    10,   11.  145 

self  kept  the  seventh  day  for  the  Sabbath,  as  hath 
been  abundantly  shown ;  and  the  Galatians  received 
their  rules  and  directions  from  those  who  were  Sab- 
bath-keepers, even  the  church  at  Jerusalem,  and 
the  apostles  and  elders.  Acts  16:  4,  5,  13.  So 
that,  at  best,  it  is  but  an  unreasonable  presumption 
to  conclude,  that  Paul,  in  this  text,  did  speak  one 
word  against  the  seventh  day  being  the  Sabbath. 
Besides,  Paul  says,  speaking  to  the  Galatians,  (chap. 
4  :  8,)  that  *'  when  ye  knew  not  God,  ye  did  service 
unto  them -which  by  nature  are  no  gods,"  which 
was  the  case  with  the  heathen.  But  the  Israelites 
did  then  and  do  still  worship  Jehovah,  who  is  the 
true  God.  This  place  seems  especially  directed  to 
those  who  had  a  heathenish  education,  who  had  be- 
fore served  those  which  w^ere  no  gods ;  who,  after 
they  knew  God,  were  turning  again  to  the  weak 
and  beggarly  elements,  to  their  first  teachings,  and 
heathenish  instructions,  for  which  Paul  there  blames 
them.  He  says.  Ye  observe  days,  and  months,  and 
times,  and  years;  I  am  afraid  of  you,  lest  I  have 
bestowed  upon  you  labor  in  vain. 

This  text  may  be  understood,  not  of  Jewish,  but 
of  heathenish  days  and  times.  Mr.  Perkins,  in  his 
Cases  of  Conscience,  chap.  23,  p.  48,  favoreth  this 
sense,  saying,  "  The  Galatians  in  likelihood  ob- 
served days  in  the  heathenish  manner."  And 
Waives,  on  the  fourth  commandment,  p.  93,  saith, 
"These  texts,  Rom.  14:  5,  Gal.  4:  10,  were  spoken 
of  the  Gentiles'  white  and  black  days,  and  of  their 
clean  and  unclean  meats."  Mr.  Warren,  on  the 
Sabbath,  p.  4o,  saith,  "  The  eighth  day  of  the  month 
was  observed  by  the  Grecians,  and  the  ninth  day 
of  the  month  by  the  Romans."  But  what  need  of 
history  for  this,  since  St.  Paul  gives  us  to  under- 
stand, that  once  these  Galatians  had  observed 
days,  and  months,  and  times,  and  years.  St.  Paul 
13 


146    EXAMINATION  OF  GALATIANS  4  :  10,  ll. 

is  most  clear,  for  in  this  text,  (Gal.  4 :  8 — 10,)  he 
speaks  of  the  time  wherein  the  Galatians  were  idol- 
aters, saying,  "Then,  when  ye  knew  not  God,  ye 
did  service  unto  those  which  by  nature  were  no 
gods;"  and  that  they  "turned  again,"  or  the  second 
time,  "unto  the  beggarly  elements,  whereunto  ye 
desire  again  to  be  in  bondage,"  the  second  time. 

Some  are  of  opinion,  that  this  text  may  be  under- 
stood of  heathenish  days,  which  they  counted  lucky 
and  unlucky ;  for  such  are  not  to  be  borne  with 
among  Christians. 

But  why  may  not  the  observation  of  days  blamed 
in  those  Scriptures  be,  among  others,  the  observa- 
tion of  the  first  day  for  worshiping  the  Sun,  which 
was,  long  before  this,  the  custom  of  the  heathen? 
It  is  indeed  most  probable,  that  those  days,  and 
months,  and  times,  and  years,  were  seasons  appointed 
for  idol  worship  ;  yea,  they  were  so  much  for  the  first 
day  of  the  week,  that  they  called  that  day  Sun-da-j, 
or  the  day  of  the  sun.  It  seems  highly  probable, 
that  the  beginning  of  its  observation  was  from  the 
worshipers  of  the  sun,  who  offered  horses  to  that 
luminary.  2  Kings  23:  11.  The  heathen  gen- 
erally observed  Sunday,  and  their  princes  and  ma- 
gistrates being  heathen,  some  of  those  who  were 
converted  to  the  Christian  faith  might  in  some 
sort  have  acquiesced  in  it.  Many  now  do  things 
which  relate  to  worship,  in  compliance  with  those 
under  whom  they  live,  and  so  have  done  in  former 
ages.  It  is  also  certain,  that  they  observed  days, 
which  observation  Paul  blamed;  and  it  is  to  me 
most  likely,  that  the  principal  one  was  Sunday, 
which  the  heathen  observed,  and  into  the  observa- 
tion of  which  the  converted  heathen,  before  they 
knew  God,  were  instructed  by  their  parents,  who 
knew  not  God.  For  Paul  speaks  of  weak  and  beg- 
garly elements,  in  verse  9,  which  words  certainly 


EXAMINATION  OF  GALATIANS  4:    10,  11.  147 

do  not  refer  to  any  part  of  the  moral  law.  But  if 
it  must  be  applied  to  the  Jews,  it  is  well  known 
that  there  are  other  days  which  they  observed  be- 
sides the  Sabbath,  as  days  of  unleavened  bread, 
and  days  of  atonement;  though,  for  my  part,  as 
Mr.  Stennctt  says,  I  cannot  think  that  the  Apostle 
intends  any  of  them,  for  the  reasons  named,  and  be- 
cause he  calls  them  weak  and  beggarly.  These 
words  carry  too  much  contempt  for  the  least  ap- 
pointment of  God,  although  it  was  now  abolished. 
But  to  imagine  that  the  Apostle  calls  the  Sabbath 
a  weak  and  beggarly  element,  is  contrary  to  all 
Scripture  and  all  right  reason.  What!  did  God 
himself,  the  strength  of  Israel,  when  he  had  done 
all  his  work,  rest  and  be  refreshed  in  a  weak  and 
beggarly  element]  For  shame!  Let  it  be  shown 
why  this  should  be  weak  and  beggarly,  seeing  all 
that  God  spake  from  heaven  was  free  from  this  im- 
putation. And  why  should  there  be  so  many  rich 
and  precious  promises  to  the  keepers  of  that  which 
was  weak  and  beggarly]  Did  God  write  that  which 
was  weak  and  beggarly  in  the  ten  commandments, 
which  are  more  precious  than  thousands  of  gold 
and  silver]  Ps.  19 :  10,119:  27.  So  that,  upon 
the  whole  of  this  in  Gal.  4:  9 — 11,  it  seems  more 
likely  that  Paul  blames  them  for  observing  the 
first  day,  if  so  be  it  were  at  all  then  observed  by 
Christians. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  argument  that  the  Sabbath  was  but  a  shadow,  and  therefore 
abolished,  considered. 

"  Let  no  man  therefore  judge  you  in  meat,  or  drink,  or  in  respect 
of  a  holy-day,  or  of  the  new-moon,  or  of  the  sabbath-days ; 
which  are  a  shadow  of  things  to  come ;  but  the  body  is  of 
Christ."     Col.  2  :  16,  17. 

Here,  says  Mr.  Ward,  all  Sabbaths  are  called 
shadows,  and  abolished,  and  so  of  the  seventh-day 
Sabbath. 

Answer.  In  general  I  acknowledge  that  this  pass- 
age at  first  seems  the  most  considerable  objection 
that  I  know  of.  Colosse  is  said  to  have  been  in 
Phrygia,  and  the  inhabitants  were  heathen.  Thi& 
epistle  Paul  directs  to  the  saints  and  faithful  breth- 
ren in  Christ  which  were  at  Colosse,  who,  it  seems, 
were  recently  converted,  and  it  may  be  that  some 
were  converted  persecuted  and  Jews.  Paul  prays 
for  them  (chap.  1:  9,  10)  that  they  might  be  fruit- 
ful in  every  good  work,  of  which  good  work  the 
law  of  God  is  a  rule ;  and  he  charges  them  to  **  be- 
ware lest  any  man  spoil  you  through  philosophy 
and  vain  deceit,  after  the  traditions  of  men,  after 
the  rudiments  of  the  world,  and  not  after  Christ." 
Col.  2 :  8.  The  philosophers,  who  are  thought  to 
have  been  Platonists,  w^ould  then,  as  others  would 
now,  cheat  them  by  their  traditions,  so  as  to  with- 
draw them  from  God's  institution,  after  the  rudi- 
ments or  first  teachings  of  the  heathenish  world, 
which  were  corrupt.  The  heathen  had  other  objects 
of  worship  besides  God,  as  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars; 
and  had  ways  of  worship   contrary  to  God  and  his 


THE  SABBATH  CONSIDERED  AS  A  SHADOW.    149 

laws,  as  you  may  read  in  the  Scriptures.  Let  no 
man  therefore  judge  you  in  meat,  or  in  drink,  or  in 
respect  of  an  holy-day,  or  of  the  new  moon,  or  of 
Sabbaths.  Col.  2:  16.  Let  no  man  judge  or  cen- 
sure you,  or  impose  upon  you  that,  as  necessary, 
which  is  not  after  God  and  his  law.  There  were 
festivals  among  the  Jews,  which  were  typical  and 
ceremonial;  and  among  the  heathen,  which  were 
idolatrous;  against  which  Paul  speaks,  when  he 
speaks  of  rudiments  of  the  world.  To  these,  Paul 
would  have  them  dead,  and  not,  as  though  living  in 
the  world,  (which  was  there  heathenish,)  be  subject 
to  ordinances,  after  the  commandments  and  doc- 
trines of  men,  (of  heathenish  men,)  which  things 
have  indeed  a  show  of  wisdom  in  will-worship. 
The  second  chapter  seems  mainly  aimed  against  the 
philosophical  heathen  world,  their  will-worship  after 
the  commandments  and  doctrines  of  heathenish 
men,  though  some  learned  men  have  thought  that 
it  refers  to  the  inclinations  of  some  there  to  follow 
ceremonial  law,  which  was  abolished  by  the  death 
of  Christ. 

Now  some  learned  men  say  that  the  Greek  word 
translated  Sabbath  signifies  week.  Matt.  28:  1; 
Luke  24  :  1;  John  20;  1,  19.  And  in  the  plural  it 
doth  signify  Sabbaths,  or  weeks.  If  therefore  Sab- 
baths, in  Col.  2:  16,  means  weeks,  and  not  the  sev- 
enth-day Sabbath,  then  that  objection  of  Mr.  Ward 
falls.  And  if  it  means  the  first  day,  i.  e.  Sunday, 
which  the  heathen  observed,  then  it  is  against  Mr. 
Ward,  so  far  as  Paul's  blaming  them  could  be ;  or, 
if  it  means  ceremonial  Sabbaths,  then  so  far  as  this 
reaches,  it  refers  to  the  observation  of  weeks  and 
ceremonial  Sabbaths  now  abolished. 

Mr.  Ward  says,  that  Sabbaths  here  must  be 
meant  of  the  seventh-day  Sabbath;  but  this  is 
against  the  opinion  of  many  learned  men.  He 
13* 


150   THE  SABBATH  CONSIDERED  AS  A  SHADOW. 

thinks  also  that  the  seventh-day  Sabbath  was  then 
at  an  end,  which  end  we  read  not  of,  however,  in 
the  Word  of  God,  but  find  it  still  observed  in  some 
churches  of  Christ  to  this  day.  Nor  do  I  find  any 
new  order  from  Christ  or  his  apostles,  as  he  sur- 
mises, to  keep  the  first  day  of  the  week  for  the 
Sabbath.  But  besides  the  seventh-day  Sabbath, 
there  were  at  least  three  festivals,  or  Sabbaths, 
among  the  Jews.  The  Passover,  now  ceased,  but 
from  which  we  have  the  pretence  for  Easter;  the 
feast  of  Unleavened  Bread,  seven  days;  and  the 
feast  of  Pentecost,  fifty  days  after  the  Passover. 
Lev.  23:  15,  16.  There  were  also  the  Sabbath  of 
years.  "Every  seventh  year  shall  be  a  Sabbath  of 
rest  unto  the  land,  a  Sabbath  to  the  Lord."  Lev. 
25:  8 — 10.  And  after  seven  Sabbaths  of  years 
they  were  to  sound  the  trumpet  of  the  Jubilee,  and 
to  hallow  or  sanctify  the  fiftieth  year.  And  hence, 
as  I  take  it,  we  have  the  ground  for  the  Roman  ju- 
bilee. Now  it  seems  to  me,  that  if  the  words  there 
do  mean  Sabbaths,  those  three  may  be  blotted  out 
and  taken  out  of  the  way,  and  all  heathenish  feasts, 
festivals,  weeks,  and  Sabbaths,  and  Sunday  as  well 
as  the  rest.  But  that  which  I  think  does  fairly  and 
fully  answer  the  whole  objection  from  Col.  2:  16, 
is  that  this  is  a  mere  caution  against  judging  the 
believers  at  Colosse  in  meat,  or  drink,  or  in  respect 
to  the  festivals,  now  moons,  or  Sabbaths,  similar  to 
that  in  Rom.  14  :  4 — 6. 

It  is  likely  that  some  converted  teachers,  either 
Jews  or  Gentiles,  had  taught  what  was  not  right 
about  days.  It  is  certain  that  there  are  some  things 
in  Paul's  epistles  hard  to  be  understood  in  Peter's 
time,  which  was  also  Paul's  time,  (for  they  were 
cotemporaries,)  how  much  more  hard  now,  nearly 
1723  years  after!  By  whom  the  hard  places  in 
Paul's  epistles  were  then  wrested,  we  may  gather 


THE  SABBATH  CONSIDERED  AS  A  SHADOW.    151 

a  little  light  from  2  Peter  3:  17.  Such  as  were 
not  subject  to  the  law  of  God,  were  the  wresters. 
Now  this  text,  (Col.  2:  16,)  seems  strangley  wrested 
beyond  the  words  of  it,  which,  as  I  have  said,  are 
merely  against  judging  the  saints  at  Colosse  in 
those  respects.  This  caution  against  judging  one 
another  was,  no  doubt,  at  that  time  and  place,  neces- 
sary, and,  rightly  understood,  is  still  of  great  use. 

Let  no  man  beguile  you,  [or  seduce  you.] 
Wherefore,  if  ye  be  dead  with  Christ  from  the  ru- 
diments of  the  world,  [whether  heathenish  or 
Jewish,]  why,  as  though  living  in  the  world,  are  ye 
subject  to  ordinances,  after  [according  to]  the  com- 
mandments and  doctrines  [traditions]  of  menl 
Touch  not,  taste  not,  handle  not,  which  all  are  to 
perish  with  the  using.  Col.  2 :  18 — 22.  These 
commandments  and  doctrines  were  appointed,  not 
by  the  Lord,  but  according  to  the  pleasure  of 
men,  as  I  think  your  first  day  is;  whereas  the 
seventh  day  was  appointed  by  the  Lord.  Surely 
the  conscience,  yea,  the  whole  life  of  man,  ought 
to  be  governed  by  the  commandment  of  God, 
without  addinof  to  or  diminishinor  from  it.  Deut. 
12:  32.  These  commandments  of  men  have  in- 
deed a  "show  of  wisdom  in  v/ill- worship" — wor- 
ship which  some  men  impose  on  themselves  and 
others,  as  if  they  could  do  and  teach  better  and 
wiser  than  God  hath  commanded,  which  indeed 
seems  to  be  a  human  infirmity  most  ancient. 

In  confirmation  of  this  view,  I  will  quote  from 
some  of  your  own  authors : — 

Mr.  Caivdry  and  Mr.  Palmer,  in  their  Treatise 
on  the  Sabbath,  which  was  written  by  order  of  the 
Westminster  Assembly  of  Divines,  and  published 
in  1646-52,  page  50,  say,  "that  the  Apostle,  in 
Col.  2 :  16,  speaks  of  other  holy-days  and  Sabbaths, 
and  not  of  the  weekly  Sabbath." 


152   THE  SABBATH  CONSIDERED  AS  A  SHADOW. 

Mr.  Shepherd,  in  his  Doctrine  of  the  Sabbath, 
page  166,  speakinor  of  Rom.  14:  4,  5;  Gal.  4:  10; 
Col.  2:  16,  saith,  "If  we  suppose  that  these  places 
be  meant  of  the  weekly  Sabbath,  and  rigidly  urge 
them,  we  may  quickly  press  blood  instead  of  milk 
out  of  them,  and  wholly  abolish  the  observation  of 
any  Sabbath." 

Dr.  Owen,  in  his  Treatise  on  the  Sabbath,  page 
214,  speaking  of  Col.  2 :  16,  17,  saith,  "  It  is  known 
and  confessed,  that  at  that  time  all  Judaical  observ- 
ation of  days,  whether  feasts,  or  fasts,  weekly, 
monthly,  or  annual,  were  by  themselves,  and  by  all 
others,  called  their  Sabbaths;  and  that  kind  of 
speech  which  was  then  in  common  use,  is  here  ob- 
served by  the  Apostle.  It  must  therefore  necessa- 
rily be  allowed,  that  there  were  two  sorts  of  Sab- 
baths amongst  them;  the  first  and  principal  was  the 
weekly  Sabbath,  so  called  from  the  rest  of  God, 
upon  his  finishing  the  work  of  creation;  and  other 
days  came,  from  their  analogy  thereto,  to  be 
called  Sabbaths  also.  But  the  difference  between 
these  Sabbaths  was  great.  The  one  of  them  was 
ordained  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  before 
the  entrance  of  sin,  and  so  belonged  to  all  mankind 
in  general.  The  others  were  appointed  in  the 
wilderness,  as  a  part  of  the  peculiar  church  wor- 
ship of  the  Israelites.  The  one  was  directly  com- 
manded in  the  Decalogue,  wherein  the  law  of  our 
creation,  as  the  Doctor  calls  it,  was  received  and 
expressed;  and  the  other  Sabbaths  have  their  insti- 
tution expressly  among  the  residue  of  ceremonial 
temporary  ordinances." 

Mr.  Richard  Byjield,  in  his  Treatise  on  the  Sab- 
bath, page  130,  speaking  of  Col.  2:  16,  saith.  "that 
the  Apostle  there  speaketh  not  of  the  fourth  com- 
mandment, because  he  teacheth  expressly  of  those 
Sabbaths  which  were  of  the  same  rank  with  tho 


THE  SABBATH  CONSIDERED  AS  A  SHADOW.   153 

new  moons.  But  he  speaketh,  as  he  doth  to  the 
Galatians,  (Gal.  4 :  10,)  of  the  observation  of 
days,  months,  times,  and  years,  which  pertained  to 
the  servitude  and  bondage  of  weak  and  beggarly 
elements.  Now  that  any  precept  of  the  Decalogue 
should  be  so  accounted  and  reckoned  as  a  weak 
and  beggarly  element,  was  far  from  the  Apostle  to 
think,  and  is  abhorrent  to  all  Christian  ears  and 
religion." 

Mr.  Theopliilus  Brahourne,  a  minister  of  the  Es- 
tablished Church,  but  an  observer  of  the  Sabbath,  in 
his  Book  on  the  Sabbath,  page  47,  saith,  *•  Col.  2 : 
14 — 17  makes  such  things  only  to  be  shadows  of 
Christ  as  were  against  us,  and  contrary  to  us. 
Now  the  seventh-day  Sabbath  is  neither  against  us, 
nor  contrary  to  us,  but  for  us;  for  the  Sabbath  was 
made  for  man,  not  against  man.  Mark  2  :  27.  It 
was  made  for  the  good  of  man's  soul  and  body  both; 
and  therefore  it  is  not  contrary  to  him.  So  that  the 
seventh-day  Sabbath  is  none  of  the  Sabbaths  spoken 
of  in  this  text,  (Col.  2:  16.)  Now  if  you  make  the 
seventh-day  Sabbath  by  this  text  a  shadow  and 
abolished,  then  you  abolish  the  whole  fourth  com- 
mandment, and  it  must  stand  as  a  cypher  in  our 
Bibles;  for  all  that  is  there  commanded  is  to  rest 
from  labor  and  to  worship  God  on  the  seventh  day. 
If  you  abolish  these  things  as  shadows,  so  that  we 
may  now  not  rest  from  labor  and  worship  God  on 
the  seventh  day,  then  the  fourth  commandment 
commands  nothing.  But,  by  the  way,  I  can  but 
wonder,  that  ministers  who  pretend  to  make  so 
much  conscience  of  God's  other  commandments, 
should  make  so  little  of  the  fourth  commandment 
as  to  tax  their  wits  to  overthrow  it.  They  must 
give  an  account  for  it  at  the  day  of  judgment." 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Examination  of  Revelations  1:  9.  10 — "I  Jolm,  who  also  am 
your  brother,  and  ccjmpaniou  in  tribulation,  and  in  the  king- 
dom and  patience  of  Jesus  Christ,  was  in  the  isle  that  is  called 
Patmos,  for  the  word  of  God,  and  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus 
Christ.     I  was  in  the  Spirit  on  the  Lord's  day." 

This  is  another  text  abused  by  all  who  would 
support  the  religious  observance  of  the  first  day  of 
the  week.  They  would  have  this  Lord's  day  to  be 
the  first  day.  But  that  this  was  an  ordinary  day  is 
uncertain,  for  St.  John  says  not  what  day  it  was. 
Therefore  we  should  examine  some  other  Scrip- 
tures, seeing  that  they  are  *  able  to  furnish  us 
thoroughly  to  every  good  work.*  2  Tim.  3:  17. 
And  if  the  first  day  shall  any  where  in  the  Scrip- 
tures prove  to  be  called  the  "Lord's  day,"  I  shall 
be  willing  to  own  it.  But  granting  that  the  first 
day  be  here  intended,  and  called  Lord's  day,  yet 
how  dare  any  one  therefore  assert  it  to  be  the  Sab- 
bath day,  since  we  have  not  the  least  hint  in  Scrip- 
ture to  warrant  it — much  less  to  reject  the  true 
Sabbath,  and  so  s«t  up  the  first  day  in  its  stead,  con- 
trary to  God's  command ! 

Some  have  thought  this  to  be  a  yearly  day  in 
commemoration  of  the  birth  of  Christ,  which  they 
think  was  in  December.  Therefore  we  in  England, 
and  others  who  observe  the  old  style,  keep  the  25th 
of  December,  in  remembrance  of  it.  Some  say 
that  the  day  of  Christ's  birth  was  in  September,  as 
you  may  find  in  Gregory's  Posthuma,  p.  164.  He 
says  that  the  day  of  Christ's  birth  was  not  kept  till 
532  years  after.  He  also  says  that  the  Alexandrians 
and  Ethiopians  hold  that  he  was  born  on  the  sixth 


EXAMINATION  OF  REVELATIONS   1  :    9,   10.        155 

day  of  January  ;  and  the  Bishop  of  Middleburg, 
that  he  was  born  in  April ;  and  Beroaldus,  in  Octo- 
ber; Scaliger  and  Calvisius,  that  it  was  in  Septem- 
ber; and  about  what  there  are  so  many  difterent 
opinions,  who  shall  decide  for  us?  But  no  one  day 
at  all  has  been  appointed,  that  I  ever  read  of  in  the 
Scriptures,  for  commemorating  the  birth  of  Christ. 
Some  think  that  by  the  Lord's  day  here  is  meant  a 
yearly  day  in  commemoration  of  the  resurrection 
of  Christ,  commonly  kept  upon  Easter  day.  Some 
think  it  to  be  the  great  day  in  the  latter  times, 
when  Christ  will  appear  to  plead  the  cause  of  his 
lordly  authority  and  kingly  power,  which  they  think 
John  saw  in  that  vision.  And  some  take  it  to  be  the 
day  of  Christ's  coming,  which  is  called  the  day  of 
the  Lord,  or  the  Lord's  day.  1  Thess.  5:2.  It  is 
called  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the 
day  of  Christ.  Phil.  1:  6,  10.  But  the  first  day 
of  the  week  is  no  where  called  either  the  Lord's 
day,  or  the  Sabbath  day,  in  Scripture,  to  distinguish 
it  from  any  other  day.  Any  day  or  time,  however, 
wherein  the  Lord  discovers  himself  to  his  peo- 
ple, may  properly  be  called  "  Lord's  day,"  or  the 
"day  which  the  Lord  hath  made."  Ps.  118:  24. 
And  sometimes  it  is  called  the  sinners'  day  to  ob- 
tain mercy;  "If  thou  hadst  known,  even  thou,  at 
least  in  this  thy  day,  the  things  which  belong  unto 
thy  peace!"  Luke  19:  42.  Others  think  the 
Lord's  day  to  be  a  weekly  day,  and  have  thought 
it  to  be  the  first  day  of  the  week,  which  they  com- 
monly call  Sunday,  for  which  opinion  they  alledge 
ecclesiastical  tradition.  Others  again  think,  if  it 
be  a  weekly  day,  that  it  is  the  seventh  day  of  the 
week,  for  which  they  alledge  divers  Scriptures; 
the  first  whereof  is  Gen.  2:  1 — 3.  That  day 
which  the  Lord  blessed  and  sanctified  is  the  Lord's 
day;  and  the  seventh  day  of  the  week  is  the  day 


156        EXAMINATION  OF  REVELATIONS   1  :    9,   10. 

which  the  Lord  blessed  and  sanctified;  therefore 
the  seventh  day  is  the  Lord's  day.  Now,  although 
all  the  days  of  the  week  are  the  Lord's — that  is,  it 
was  he  that  made  the  division  of  time  into  seven 
days,  and  there  stayed,  and  so  every  day  is  his — 
yet  he  has  peculiarly  blessed  and  sanctified  the 
seventh  day,  and  called  it  his,  and  rested  on 
it,  and  set  it  apart  for  man  to  rest  upon;  and  he 
has  nowhere,  that  I  can  find  in  his  Word,  said 
any  such  thing  of  the  first  day,  or  of  any  other 
day  of  the  week  but  the  seventh  day  only.  The 
second  is  Ex.  16  :  29,  where  the  seventh  day  is  said 
to  be  a  gift,  "  The  Lord  hath  given  you  the  Sabbath," 
and  so  you  should  take  it  as  a  gift  from  him,  as  his 
gift,  and  as  the  Lord's  day.  The  third  is  Ex.  20 :  10, 
where  the  seventh  day  is  directly  aflfirmed  to  be  the 
Sabbath  of  the  Lord,  that  is,  the  seventh  day  is  the 
Lord's  Sabbath  day,  or  the  Lord's  day  of  rest,  or 
the  Lord's  day.  And  the  like  is  in  Deut.  5:  14 — 
"  The  seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord  thy 
God;"  and  not  the  first  day,  as  Mr.  Ward  would 
make  you  believe  in  his  exposition  of  the  twentieth 
chapter  of  Exodus.  Now  that  which  is  the  Lord's 
Sabbath  day,  I  should  think,  cannot  well  be  denied 
to  be  the  Lord's  day;  and  it  being  his  Sabbath  day, 
does  not  make  it  cease  to  be  a  day,  or  cease  to  be 
his  day;  and  if  it  be  his  day,  then  it  is  the  Lord's 
day.  Or,  we  may  reason  thus  :  That  day  which  the 
Lord  commanded  to  be  kept  holy  is  the  Lord's  day; 
the  seventh  day  is  that  day  which  the  Lord 
commanded  to  be  kept  holy;  therefore  the  seventh 
day  is  the  Lord's  day. 

Now  that  the  seventh  day  is  that  day  which  the 
Lord  commanded  to  be  kept  holy,  and  not  the  first 
day,  appears  from  Ex.  20:  8,  10,  and  Deut.  5:  12, 
14,  15.  The  latter  end  of  the  15th  verse  is  very 
cogent;   for  thus  hath  the  Lord  commaded  thee  to 


EXAMINATION  OF  REVELATIONS   1  :    9,  10.         157 

do,  or  to  make  the  seventh  day  the  Sabbath ;  for  in 
six  days  the  Lord  made  heaven  and  earth,  and  on 
the  seventh  day  he  rested,  and  w^as  refreshed.  So 
the  seventh  day  is  the  Lord's  day.  The  Lord  gave 
to  Moses  two  tables  of  stone,  v^^ritten  with  the  finger 
of  God,  and  the  tables  were  the  work  of  God, 
and  the  writings  were  the  writings  of  God.  Ex. 
31 :  18.  Upon  one  of  these  tables  of  testimony, 
or  witness,  the  fourth  commandment  was  written. 
The  ceremonies  that  were  to  be  abrogated  by 
Christ,  were  all  written  by  Moses;  but  this  of  the 
Sabbath,  with  the  other  nine,  which  were  written 
by  God  himself,  were  put  into  the  ark,  where  no 
ceremonial  law  was  put,  to  show  that  they  should 
be  the  perpetual  rules  of  the   church.     Heb.  9 :   3. 

Another  Scripture  to  prove  the  seventh  day  to 
be  the  Lord's  day,  is  Isa.  58:  13,  where  the  Sab- 
bath is  called  the  Lord's  holy  day,  and  the  holy  of 
the  Lord,  honorable.  I  think  no  writer  has  yet  de- 
nied that  the  Sabbath  there  spoken  of  was  the 
seventh-day  Sabbath,  then  and  still  observed  by 
the  Israelites;  and  it  cannot  be  less  his  day,  be- 
cause it  is  his  holy  day.  If  it  be  his  day,  then  it  is 
the  Lord's  day;  and  that  which  he  calls  his  day, 
ought  to  be  believed  and  acknowledged  as  his  day. 

Another  argument  I  take  from  Matt.  12:  8,  "For 
the  Son  of  Man  is  Lord  also  of  the  Sabbath  day," 
and  the  like  in  Mark  2  :  28,  "  For  the  Son  of  Man  is 
Lord  of  the  Sabbath,"  and  the  like  in  Luke  6 :  5, 
"He  said  to  them  that  the  Son  of  Man  is  Lord  also 
of  the  Sabbath."  These  places  also  farther  prove 
the  seventh  day  to  be  the  Lord's  day.  That  the 
Sabbath  spoken  of  in  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke, 
is  the  seventh-day  Sabbath,  I  think  is  agreed  by  all 
expositors;  it  appears  to  be  the  Sabbath  which 
the  Israelites  observed,  which  was  then,  and  is 
still,  the  seventh  day  of  the  week;  and  the  Son 
14 


158        EXAMINATION  OF  REVELATIONS   1  :    9,   10. 

of  Man  mentioned  by  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke, 
is  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  This  day,  then,  if  the 
Scriptures  may  be  judge,  is  the  true  L(u-d's  day. 
Whence  I  may  thus  reason :  That  day  whereof 
Christ  the  Son  of  Man  is  Lord,  is  the  Lord's  day; 
but  the  seventh-day  Sabbath  is  that  day  of  which 
Christ  the  Son  of  Man  is  Lord;  therefore  the  sev- 
enth-day Sabbath   is  the    Lord's   day. 

I  have  something  more  to  confirm  this  opinion,  that 
the  seventh-day  Sabbath  is  called  the  Lord's  day. 
The  churches  in  the  apostles'  times,  for  many  years 
together,  knew  not  this  name,  Lord's  day,  as  be- 
longing to  the  first  day  of  the  week.  It  vv^as 
called  the  first  day,  and  by  no  other  name,  for  many 
years.  Wherefore  we  have  reason  to  think  that 
St.  John  did  not  mean  the  first  day  of  the  week 
when  he  used  this  name  Lord's  day,  but  some 
other  day,  as  the  seventh-day  Sabbath.  The  Sun- 
day was  frequently  spoken  of  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment before  St.  .John  wrote,  and  called  the  first  day 
of  the  week;  and  it  is  .groundless  to  say  that  St. 
John  would  give  it  a  name  not  known  before  in 
the  church;  especially  considering  that  the  four 
gospels  were  then  written,  and  the  Acts  of  the 
apostles,  written  after  them,  knew  no  such  name  as 
Lord's  day  for  the  first  day  of  the  week.  Acts 
20 :  7.  If  the  four  evangelists  had  known  any 
other  name  for  the  first  day,  some  of  them  would 
have  mentioned  it;  yea,  all  of  them,  for  they  wrote 
every  one  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  of  the 
first  day.  Now  had  the  name  Lord's  day  been 
more  honorable  than  the  old  name,  the  first  day 
of  the  week,  and  had  they  known  any  such  name, 
surely  they  would  have  mentioned  it  then  in  honor 
of  Christ's  resurreciion.  I  conclude,  thereff^re,  that 
St.  John  meant  the  seventh-day  Sabbath,  if  it  were 
a  particular  day,  and  not  the  first  day  of  the  week. 


TESTIMONY   OF   ROMAN  CATHOLICS.  159 

I  shall  ill  the  next  place  show  what  the  Papists 
say  concerning  the  Sabbath;  and  though  they  are 
for  a  first-day  Sabbath,  yet  they  speak  the  plainest 
of  any  concerning  the  coming  in  of  it. 

1st.  The  Papists,  in  their  annotations  upon  Rev. 
1 :  10,  say,  that  the  Sabbath  was  abrogated  frora 
the  seventh  day  to  the  next  day  following,  being 
the  eighth  day  in  order  from  the  creation;  and 
that,  without  Scripture  or  command  of  Christ 
that  we  read  of.  Yea,  what  is  more,  say  they,  not 
only  otherwise  than  was  by  the  law  observed,  but 
plainly  otherwise  than  was  prescribed  by  God  him- 
self in  the  commandment;  yea,  and  otherwise  than 
he  ordained  in  the  first  creation,  when  he  sanctified 
precisely  the  seventh  day,  and  not  the  first  day  of 
the  week.  And  a  little  farther  on  they  speak  of  the 
church  as  making  the  first  day  a  holy  day,  which  was 
a  common  working  day  before;  and  the  seventh 
day,  which  before  was  a  holy  day,  now  a  common 
working  day.  Why  may  not  the  same  church,  say 
they,  prescribe  and  appoint  the  other  holy  feasts 
of  Eastei",  Whitsuntide,  Christmas,  Candlemas,  and 
the  rest;  for  she  hath  the  same  warrant  for  one 
that  she  had  for  the  other? 

2d.  In  a  Catechism,  entitled  An  Abridgment  of 
Christian  Doctrine,  subscribed  H.  T.,  on  page  130, 
thus  the  author  questions:  "How  prove  you  that  the 
church  hath  power  to  command  feasts  and  holy- 
days'?"  And  he  answers  thus:  "By  this  very  act 
of  changing  the  Sabbath  into  Sunday,  which  Pro- 
testants allow  of;  and  therefore  they  fondly  contra- 
dict themselves  by  keeping  Sunday  so  strictly,  and 
breaking  most  other  feasts  commanded  by  the  same 
church."  Again,  in  the  same  page,  he  thus  ques- 
tions: "How  declare  you  that?"  Ans.  "Because 
by  keeping  Sunday  they  acknowledge  the  church's 
power  to  ordain  a  Sabbath,  and  to  command  them 


160  TESTIMONY  OF  ROMAN  CATHOLICS. 

under  sin ;  and  by  not  keeping  the  feasts  by  her 
commanded,  they  again  deny  in  fact  the  same 
power." 

3d.  In  a  book  called,  An  Antidote  or  Treatise 
of  Thirty  Controversies,  (intended  by  the  author 
against  the  writings  of  Dr.  Fulk,  Dr.  Whitaker,  Dr. 
Field,  and  others,)  the  author  speaks  thus  about 
page  50 :  "  The  Word  of  God  commandeth  the 
seventh  day  to  be  the  Sabbath  of  our  Lord,  and  to 
be  kept  holy;  you,  (saith  he,  speaking  to  the  Pro- 
testants,) without  any  precept  of  Scripture,  change 
it  to  the  first  day  of  the  week,  only  authorized  by 
our  traditions.  Divers  English  Puritans  oppose 
against  this  point,  that  the  observance  of  the  first 
day  is  proved  out  of  Scripture,  where  it  is  said  *  the 
first  day  of  the  week.'  Acts  20:  7,  1  Cor.  16:  2, 
Rev.  1 :  10.  Have  they  not  spun  a  fair  thread  in 
quoting  these  places'?  If  we  should  produce  no 
better  for  purgatory,  and  prayers  for  the  dead,  in- 
vocation of  saints,  and  the  like,  they  might  have 
good  cause  indeed  to  laugh  us  to  scorn;  for. where 
is  it  written  that  these  were  Sabbath  days  in  which 
those  meetings  were  held]  Or,  where  is  it  ordained 
that  they  should  be  always  observed]  Or,  which  is 
the  sum  of  all,  where  is  it  decreed  that  the  observ- 
ance of  the  first  day  should  abrogate  and  abolish 
the  sanctifying  of  the  seventh  day,  which  God  com- 
manded everlastingly  to  be  kept  holy]  Not  one 
of  these  is  expressed  in  the  written  Word  of  God." 

Thus  much  for  the  Papists  concerning  the  Sab- 
bath. Now  if  any  question  what  reason  these  men 
have  to  speak  thus,  I  answer,  that  if  .search  be 
made  into  antiquity,  wherein  these  men  are  versed, 
it  will  appear,  that  what  they  speak  in  this  particu- 
lar is  truth;  yea,  they  have  more  to  say  for  prayers 
for  the  dead,  and  invocation  of  saints,  and  for  pur- 
gatory, from  the  Scriptures,  than  you  can  say,  sir,  for 


THE  CHANGE  OF  THE  SABBATH.  161 

your  first  day  Sabbath,  as  you  may  see  in  2  Mac. 
12:  42—44;  Ps.  16:  10;  Acts  2 ;  27;  1  Cor.  3: 
13—15;  1  Pet.  3:  19,  20.  Even  the  devil  had 
more  to  say  from  the  Scriptures,  when  he  tempted 
Christ,  than  you  have  to  say  for  your  first-day  Sab- 
bath, as  you  may  see  in  Matt.  4:  6,  Luke  4:  9 — 11. 
But  as  for  changing  the  Sabbath  to  the  first  day 
of  the  week,  you  cannot  find  it  written  in  the 
Scriptures;  and  that  the  Scriptures  are  able  to 
make  the  man  of  God  j)crfect  unto  all  good  works, 
and  to  make  one  wise  unto  salvation,  is  past  doubt. 
I  think  that  they  are  sufficient  at  least  to  resolve 
this  question.  Which  is  the  day  the  Lord  w^ould 
have  us  to  keep  holyl  And  upon  the  whole,  from 
an  examination  of  the  testimony  of  God  in  Gen. 
2;  3,  and  in  the  moral  law,  and  from  the  like  ex- 
press testimony  of  the  prophets,  and  of  Matthew, 
Mark,  and  Luke,  three  of  the  evangelists,  I  con- 
clude that  the  Lord''s  day  mentioned  by  John,  the 
fourth  evangelist,  is  the  seventh-day  Sabbath,  and 
that  that  only  is  peculiarly  the  Lord's  day,  and  so 
called  in  Rev.  1:  10.  All  the  considerable  pre- 
tences to  subvert  this  plain  law  of  God  in  the  fourth 
commandment,  and  to  apply  the  term  Lord's  day 
to  the  first  day  of  the  week,  as  far  as  I  can  gather, 
are  mere  conjecture,  invention,  and  human  tradi- 
tion, into  which  he  that  traveleth  but  a  little  may 
easily  discover  how  those  who  go  that  wandering 
way  do  lose  themselves  in  endless  mazes,  meeting 
with  little  else  than  darkness,  contradictions,  and 
uncertainties.  As  for  settled  satisfaction  to  the 
mind  and  conscience,  it  comes  in  no  other  vvay,  that 
I  can  find,  but  from  the  Lord,  and  his  Word  and 
Holy  Spirit.  In  my  opinion  there  is  no  one  thing 
which  has  so  much  held  up  this  conceit  that  the 
first  day  of  the  week  may  be  the  day  of  rest  to 
be  observed  under  the  Gospel,  as  the  stealing  away 
14* 


162        THE  CHANGE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

of  the  name  Lord's  day  from  the  seventh-day 
Sabbath,  to  which  only  the  Scriptures  do  ap- 
ply it,  and  giving  that  name  to  the  first  day,  to 
which,  the  Scriptures  being  judge,  it  does  not  be- 
long. Hence  it  is,  that  when  we  appeal  to  the 
Scriptures  of  truth,  those  of  the  other  side,  finding 
the  institution  plainly  commanded,  and  the  Word 
of  God  against  them,  fly  presently  to  tradition, 
teaching  things  which  they  ought  not  for  filthy 
lucre,  by  which  they  make  the  commandments  of 
God  of  no  authority. 

Whereas  they  preach  that  the  first  day  is  to  be 
kept  in  obedience  to  the  fourth  commandment,  I 
answer,  that  is  an  absurd  doctrine,  and  an  impossi- 
ble thing.  Is  it  possible  to  make  the  seventh  day 
of  the  week  to  become  the  first  day  of  the  week  1 
The  fourth  commandment  saith  that  the  seventh 
day  is  the  Sabbath;  and  the  first  day  is  not  the 
seventh  day  spoken  of  in  the  commandment. 

Farther,  to  call  the  first  day  of  the  week  the 
Sabbath  day,  is  a  nick-naming  of  the  day.  You 
may  as  well  call  the  seventh  day  the  first  day,  as 
to  call  the  first  day  the  Sabbath  day.  This  is  to 
do  as  bad  as  the  wicked  that  call  evil  good,  and 
good  evil;  that  put  darkness  for  light,  and  light  for 
darkness;  that  put  bitter  for  sweet,  and  sweet  for 
bitter!  Isa.  5:  20.  The  first  day  was  never  called 
the  Sabbath  day  in  Scripture,  but  the  seventh  day 
was  ever  so  called,  and  so  it  hath  been  called  in 
some  churches  to  this  day.  English  Parliaments  do 
not  altogether  omit  the  reverence  due  unto  it,  but 
style  it  the  Sabbath  day  when  they  act  upon  it. . 
It  is  sad  that  those  who  so  honor  it  with  their  pens, 
should  profane  it  so  openly  in  their  practice. 
Truly  it  is  high  presumption  to  alter  the  perfect 
Word  of  God,  in  calling  any  day  the  Lord's  Sab- 
bath which  the  Lord  never  dignified  with  any  such 


THE  CHANGE  OF  THE  SABBATH.  163 

Vionorable  appellation.  Let  but  the  least  authority 
be  produced  from  the  Scriptures  for  honoring  any 
other  day  for  the  Sabbath  besides  the  Lord's  hon- 
orable seventh  day,  and  the  controversy  will  soon 
be  ended. 

Well  may  we  say  of  the  Sabbath,  as  is  said  of 
Jacob,  (Ps.  135:  4,)  the  Lord  hath  chosen  it  unto 
himself  for  his  peculiar  treasure ;  the  Lord  hath 
abundant  care  for  the  Sabbath,  for  he  bids  us  re- 
member to  keep  it  holy,  and  has  established  its  ob- 
servance as  his  abiding  covenant  with  his  church 
and  people  throughout  all  ages.  Ex.  31 :  13.  Such 
is  the  care  of  the  Lord  for  the  spiritual  profit  of  his 
people,  and  to  perpetuate  the  practice  of  religion, 
that  he  therefore  appoints  the  seventh  day  for  his 
Sabbath;  yea,  and  that  it  might  abide,  he  has 
bound  it  by  a  covenant  to  continue  throughout  all 
generations.  Ex.  31 :  16,  17.  The  ends  to  which 
this  day  is  directed,  are  for  the  honor  of  God  and 
the  happiness  of  man,  and  "blessed  is  the  man  that 
doeth  this,  and  the  son  of  man  that  layeth  hold  on 
it,  that  keepeth  the  Sabbath  from  polluting  it." 
Isa.  56  :  2. 

Those  whose  brethren  in  their  writings  have  so 
honorably  and  plainly  confirmed  the  moral  law,  (of 
one  of  which  the  seventh  day  is  the  substance,) 
would  do  well  to  consider  what  daring  boldness  it 
is,  and  unfaithfulness  in  them  who  profess  to  be 
the  Lord's  ministers  and  ambassadors,  to  say  that 
the  seventh-day  Sabbath  is  changed  to  the  first  day. 
How  greatly  are  they  accountable  for  the  error  of 
those  who  pin  their  faith  on  the  sleeves  of  others, 
and  take  what  they  say  for  truth,  when  there  is  no 
truth  in  it.  Is  it  not  your  own  professed  principle, 
that  there  is  a  sufficiency  in  the  holy  Scriptures  to 
instruct  and  direct  in  matters  of  divine  worship, 
and  to  make  one  wise  unto  salvation  throuo:h  faith  ? 


164  THE  CHANGE  OF  THE  SABBATH. 

By  what  you  say  and  practice,  you  both  add  to  and 
diminish  from  Grod's  Word,  which  he  forbids. 
Deut.  4 :  2.  And  this  is  likely  to  be  dangerous  to 
you.  "Add  thou  not  unto  his  words,  lest  he  re- 
prove thee,  and  thou  be  found  a  liar."  Prov.  30:  6. 
"Whosoever  therefore  shall  break  one  of  these 
least  commandments,  and  shall  teach  men  so,  shall 
be  called  the  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
Matt.  5;  19.  Mind  what  God  saith  in  Revelations, 
"If  any  man  shall  add  unto  these  things,  God  shall 
add  unto  him  the  plagues  that  are  written  in  this 
book;  and  if  any  man  shall  take  away  from  the 
words  of  the  book  of  this  prophecy,  God  shall 
take  av/ay  his  part  out  of  the  book  of  life,  and  out 
of  the  holy  city,  and  from  the  things  which  are 
written  in  this  book."     Rev.  22:   18,  19. 

John  Calvin,  in  his  book  on  the  Institutes  of  the 
Christian  Religion,  page  128,  saith  that  the  old 
fathers  put  in  the  place  of  the  Sabbath  the  day 
which  we  call  Sunday.  And  though  there  were 
oome  reason  for  it — [but  I  am  sure  it  was  a  wicked 
one,  to  teach  the  people  to  break  God's  command- 
ment]— yet  he  acknowledges  that  the  old  fathers 
did  it.  And  on  the  same  page,  he  calls  it  the  tri- 
flings of  false  prophets,  to  say  that  that  which  was 
ceremonial  in  the  commandment  was  taken  away, 
viz.  the  appointment  of  the  seventh  day;  and  that 
the  keeping  of  one  day  in  the  week  is  a  duty,  as 
much  as  if  that  only  were  moral. 

Shall  man  be  more  pure  than  his  Maker  1  Yet 
such  at  least  they  bespeak  themselves  to  be,  who 
thus  invert  the  order  of  nature,  and  control  the 
wisdom  of  God.  He  that  smote  Nadab  and  Abihu 
with  severe  and  sudden  death,  only  for  using  one 
kind  of  fire  instead  of  another,  (Lev.  10:  1,  2,) 
surely  will  not  hold  those  guiltless  who  make  so 
bold  with  him   as  to  chamre  his  law.      The   Lord 


TilK  CHANGE  OF  THE  SAP.BATH.  166 

himself  set  up  his  own  Sabbath;  and  indeed  it  is 
only  for  Him  to  give  a  being  to  the  Sabbath,  who 
can  give  a  blessing  to  it.  It  is  the  work  of  the 
Lord  alone  to  bless  and  sanctify  the  seventh  day; 
therefore  no  person  may  assume  power,  nor  by  any 
power  presume  to  alter  and  settle  any  other  Sab- 
bath. "  Though  we,  or  an  angel  from  heaven, 
preach  any  other  Gospel  unto  you  than  that  which 
we  have  preached  unto  you,  let  him  be  accursed." 
Gal.  1 :  8.  And  so  he  that  proclaims  among  you 
any  other  Sabbath  than  what  God  has  commanded, 
let  him  be  accursed. 

"  And  in  all  things  that  I  have  said  unto  you,  be 
circumspect;  and  make  no  mention  of  the  names 
of  other  gods."  Ex.  23:  13.  The  same  circum- 
spection was  observed  in  Noah,  when  God  had 
commanded  him  to  build  an  ark;  "according  to 
all  that  God  commanded  him,  so  did  he."  Gen.  6t 
22.  The  like  was  found  in  Moses,  who,  in  making 
the  tabernacle,  must  see  that  he  did  all  things  ac- 
cording to  the  pattern  shown  him  in  the  mount; 
the  particulars  of  which  you  may  see  at  large  in 
Ex.  25 :  9 — 40.  As  the  Lord  commanded  Moses, 
so  all  the  cloths  for  the  service  and  the  holy  gar- 
ments, were  made;  and  whatever  was  assigned  for 
or  used  in  the  service,  of  God,  was  not  left  to  the 
discretion  of  any  man;  and  when  Moses  did  look 
upon  all  they  had  done,  and  saw  that  they  had 
made  all  things  even  as  God  had  commanded,  he 
blessed  them.  Ex.  39 :  42,  43.  And  indeed  who 
would  dare  to  do  any  thing  in  the  service  of  God 
but  as  the  Lord  commands.  See  how  Moses  ac- 
quits himself  in  the  case  of  Korah,  Datlian,  and 
Abiram.  "  And  Moses  said.  Hereby  ye  shall 
know  that  the  Lord  hath  sent  me  to  do  all  these 
works,  for  I  have  not  done  them  of  mine  own  mind^ 
Num.  16:  28.     Doubtless  Moses  desired  not  to  do 


166  THE  CHANGE  OF   THE  SABBATH. 

Otherwise;  but  Mr.  Ward  is  of  another  mind,  for 
although  he  reads  in  the  twentieth  chapter  of  Ex- 
odus, that  "the  seventh  day  is  the  Sabbath,"  yet  ho 
keeps  the  first  day  for  the  Sabbath,  contrary  to 
God's  command,  and  teacheth  others  to  do  the 
same.  He  grants  that  the  Lord  hath  a  day  for  his 
service,  but  he  pleads  against  the  last  day  in  the 
week,  and  for  the  Jirst  day,  the  particular  day 
vvhich  the  Papists  keep,  to  be  the  Sabbath  day. 
This  is  a  subtil  design  of  satan ;  when  he  sees  that 
men  will  have  a  Sabbath,  he  seeks  to  set  it  where 
it  may  be  sui-e  to  fall.  Beware  lest  there  be  any 
man  that  spoil  you  through  philosophy  and  vain 
deceit,  through  the  traditions  of  men,  (Col.  2:  §,) 
in  opposition  to  the  Word  of  God,  which  indeed  is 
the  only  rule  which  all  men  ought  to  walk  by. 
Let  no  one  think,  that  I  speak  this  to  expose  Mr. 
Ward  out  of  prejudice,  for  I  appeal  to  Almighty 
God,  that  I  have  none  against  his  person;  but  I  pro- 
test against  his  exposition  of  the  eighth,  ninth, 
tenth,  and  eleventh  verses  of  the  twentieth  chapter 
of  Exodus,  in  making  a  first-day  Sabbath  of  it, 
when  God  hath  made  it  the  seventh  day.  This  I  do 
in  love  to  his  soul,  and  to  the  souls  of  others,  for  I 
have  proved  by  the  Word  of  God,  that  the  seventh 
day  for  the  Sabbath  is  still  in  force.  And  I  do  ac- 
knowledge him  to  be  a  man  of  parts,  and  master 
of  art,  or  else  he  could  not  have  made  a  first-day 
Sabbath  in  expounding  the  twentieth  chapter  of 
Exodus. 

I  have  shown  you  before  how  that  the  seventh  day 
has  been  observed  for  the  Sabbath  by  Christ,  and 
was  in  use  among  the  Christian  churches,  both  in 
the  days  of  the  apostles  after  Christ's  resurrection, 
and  also  afterwards  in  the  primitive  churches.  The 
practice  of  the  apostles  I  rather  produce,  because 
Mr.  Ward  leans   much  upon  their  practice,  labor- 


CONCLUSION.  167 

ing,  though  all  in  vaiu,  as  hath  been  shown,  to 
prove  that  the  practice  of  the  apostles  was  to  keep 
the  first  day.  And  since  the  apostles'  pracice 
is  of  so  great  strength  with  him,  I  have  proved 
now  that  the  apostles  practiced  keeping  the  seventh 
day  for  the  Sabbath.  Therefore  make  no  farther 
question,  sir,  of  the  matter,  for  you  may  see  all 
your  texts  fully  answered  for  the  abolishing  of 
God's  Sabbath,  so  that  you  may  see  you  have  no 
ground  in  God's  Word  for  it. 

To  conclude,  I  can  but  wonder  what  should  set 
wise  and  religious  men  at  work  thus  to  sharpen 
their  wits  against  the  Lord's  Sabbath,  which  is  a 
branch  of  the  eternal  law  of  God  ;  it  being  written 
on  tables  of  stone  to  signify  its  perpetuity,  and 
they  having  no  plain  text  of  Scripture  for  the  abol- 
ishing of  it.  It  can  be  from  nothing,  then,  but  to 
gratify  their  perverse  wills  and  pleasures  to  have 
it  abolished;  and  this  is  grounded  oa  the  custom 
of  the  Roman  Church,  without  the  Word  of  God. 

God  hath  left  us  ten  commandments,  and  they 
are  the  rule  of  our  lives,  a  light  to  our  paths,  and 
according  thereto  we  shall  be  judged  at  the  last 
day.  James  2:  12.  How  should  we  contend  for 
the  acknowledgment  of  this  truth,  which  was  once 
given  unto  us;  not  suffering  any  of  these  ten  lights 
to  be  extinguished;  no,  nor  any  one  of  them  to  be 
eclipsed  in  the  least  degree;  not  allowing  that  any 
one  link  should  be  broken  from  the  chain,  nor  so 
much  as  the  least  piece  or  parcel  from  any  of  the 
links;  but  that  we  should  maintain  them  in  the  full 
weight  and  measure  that  they  ever  had,  not  so 
much  as  the  day  or  time  once  altered  or  changed. 
God  is  immutable  and  unchangeable,  ever  the  same, 
and  so  is  his  law  of  the  ten  commandments.  Re- 
member that  text  in   Deut.  12:  32,   "What  thing 


168  CONCLUSION. 

soever  I  command  you,  observe  to  do  it;  thou  shalt 
not  add  thereto,  nor  diminish  from  it."  If  we 
must  not  take  any  thing  from  the  law  of  God,  then 
I  am  resolved  not  to  consent  that  the  Lord's  Sab- 
bath should  be  rent  from  his  law;  and  I  trust  that 
Cxod  will  ever  give  me  grace  to  make  conscience 
of  keeping  his  commands.  Then  shall  I  not  be 
ashamed,  when  I  have  respect  unto  all  thy  com- 
mandments. Therefore  I  esteem  all  thy  precepts 
concerning  all  things  to  be  right,  and  I  hate  every 
false  way.  Ps.  119:  6,  128.  Many  are  the  heart 
relentings  which  I  have  toward  them  that  do  op- 
pose this  blessed  truth  of  the  Lord's  sanctified  Sab- 
bath, well  knowing  that  they  oppose  their  own 
mercy,  for  all  the  paths  of  the  Lord  are  mercy  and 
truth  to  those  that  keep  his  testimonies. 

It  was  a  good  observation  of  a  learned  writer, 
"hat  the  Sabbath,  as  it  came  in  with  the  first  man, 
so  it  must  go  out  but  with  the  last  man — as  it  was 
from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  so  it  must  con- 
tinue till  the  world's  end.  And  therefore,  for  the 
Lord's  sake,  and  for  your  own  soul's  sake,  suffer 
none  to  seduce  you.  Do  not  hate  hirn  that  re- 
buketh,  nor  abhor  him  that  speaketh  uprightly,  as 
they  did  who  are  spoken  of  in  Amos  5:  10.  But 
say  as  David,  "  Let  the  righteous  smite  me,  it  shall 
be  a  kindness;  and  let  him  reprove  me,  it  shall 
be  an  excellent  oil,  which  shall  not  break  my  head." 
Ps.  141 :  5.  O  remember  that  word  in  Isa.  42  :  21, 
"The  Lord  is  well  pleased  for  his  righteousness 
sake ;  he  will  magnify  the  law  and  make  it  hon- 
orable." 


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